


Kairi and Lea's Excellent Adventure

by HouseofSannae



Series: Kingdom Hearts Ψ [5]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Diverges post BBS 0.2, Final Fantasy XIII - Freeform, Gen, God I'm bad at summaries, Robin Hood (1973) - Freeform, Star Wars - Freeform, The Emperor's New Groove (2000), The Great Mouse Detective (1986) - Freeform, The Jungle Book (1967) - Freeform, Treasure Planet (2002) - Freeform, additional characters and locations to be added as chapters are posted, phineas and ferb - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-04
Updated: 2018-05-06
Packaged: 2019-03-27 04:00:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 40,009
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13872657
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HouseofSannae/pseuds/HouseofSannae
Summary: It's finally time for Kairi to learn how to be a Keybearer! Pity she has to learn alongside someone she had unpleasant history with. Naminé will also be coming along for the ride, while trying to keep her own misgivings to herself! Watch friendships grow, worlds be visited,  and Merlin avoid doing any actual teaching in the buddy movie we probably won't actually get in canon!





	1. Prologue

           Kairi stood near the gummi ship and shifted her weight from foot to foot, half nervous apprehension and half impatience with her soon-to-be training partner. Axel – _Lea,_ she reminded herself – was up in the tower discussing something with Yen Sid, but Merlin had told her five minutes ago that he was ready to depart when they were.

            Riku and Mickey had already been by to say goodbye, a quick hug from the boy and a cheery wave from the mouse king. They were off to the Realm of Darkness to hopefully return lost Keyblade Master Aqua to the Realm of Light. For some reason she couldn’t quite put her finger on, the name itched at something in the depths of her memory. Hopefully meeting the master in person would clear things up.

            The tower door swung open and there was Axel – _Lea_ – walking alongside Sora. The two seemed to be talking about something, if the big grin on Lea’s face was any indication. Although, actually judging by the body language, it seemed like he wasn’t talking to Sora.

            He was talking to Roxas.

            The two Nobodies sharing Sora’s heart could, if he allowed it, briefly take control of his body to interact with the people around them. Naminé could do the same with Kairi herself, and according to Sora’s mother, so could Ventus; although, since his heart was sleeping, it only happened when Sora himself was asleep.

            This had the fortunate side effect of Lea being able to talk with his thought-to-be-dead best friends, even reawakening his memories of Xion. Though it was still a little odd for all of them, as he could only talk to them one at a time, and it was still Sora he was talking to. But it was better than nothing and Lea was ecstatic to know at least two of his missing friends were within reach.

            The two reached the gummi ship, and Roxas turned to Lea. “Okay, but I’m serious, Axel, don’t be a dick.”

            “I’m not going to be a dick, Rox. And it’s Lea, now. Got it memorized?”

            Roxas laughed. “You’re just gonna have to accept you’ll always be Axel to me.”

            Lea grinned. “Fine, whatever. You get a pass. Hey, hopefully the next time I see you, I’ll be seeing you as yourself.”

            “Hopefully,” Roxas returned the smile. “I think Xion wanted to say something, too. One sec.” Sora’s eyes glazed over in a way that was becoming familiar to their friend group, and Xion blinked for a second, figuring out where she was. “Heading out, Axel?”

            “It’s… aw, forget it,” he grumbled, the innocent grin on Sora’s face making it clear Xion was just doing it to tease him. “Yeah, we’re about to head out. You’re ready, right?” he asked Kairi.

            “Ready and waiting,” she said, perfectly disguising the slight irritation she was feeling.

            “Have a good journey, then,” Xion said. “And Axel? Try not to be an asshole. To either of them.”

            “I’m not going to be a… jeez, why do you guys have so little faith in me?”

            “Cause we know you,” Xion said, smiling, and punched him lightly in the arm. “I’ll let Sora say his goodbyes now. It was nice to see you three!” Sora’s eyes glazed over again and this time, the body’s rightful owner was back. He blinked in confusion for a bit, then turned to Kairi and grinned.

            “Setting off?”

            “Yep,” she answered with an easy smile. The two moved easily into a hug.

            “Can’t wait to see you when you get back,” he whispered into her ear as Lea looked away awkwardly.

            “Right back at you,” she said, and hugged him tighter.

            The two broke their embrace and Sora turned to Lea. “I’m not going to tell you to take care of her, ‘cause I know she can take care of herself, but just… be nice to her, all right? Be nice to both of them.” He tried, and mostly failed, to look stern. It didn’t help that he still only came up to around the middle of Lea’s chest.

            “You, too, huh? I tell you, I get no respect…” Lea chuckled, and waved his hand. “I promise that I shall treat Kairi, and Naminé if she decides she wants to talk to me, with just as much respect as I treat the three of you. Happy?”

            “It’s a start,” Sora said. He gave Kairi a quick squeeze and said, “I’ve got to get going, too. Gotta see a real hero, you know?” Lea and Kairi shared a confused look and he added, “Never mind. It makes sense if you’ve met the guy. I’ll introduce you some day. See you two later!”

            With that, the two of them were alone in front of the ship, and the silence was palpable.

            “So…” Kairi said, desperate to break the silence, “new outfit?”

            “Huh? Oh, yeah.” Lea was wearing what looked to be a leather jacket over light tan pants. The jacket was, for some reason or another, a creamsicle orange. Oddly enough, the ensemble worked rather well with his hair. “Yen Sid didn’t want me wearing the coat anymore. He said that if Xemnas had lied to us about Nobodies not having hearts, and since he was trying to prep us to be Xehanort’s vessels or whatever, maybe that coat didn’t protect as much against the Darkness as he claimed. I can’t fault his reasoning, and I’m not exactly planning on opening any Dark Corridors any time soon. So the coat’s staying behind.”

            “I see.” If she was being honest, it helped somewhat. The new outfit added a bit of distance between Lea, ally and newly minted Keyblade bearer, and Axel, enemy and her one-time kidnapper.

            The conversation lulled and the awkwardness started to press in again, until Lea decided to simply poke the elephant.

            “Look, I’m sorry for kidnapping you. I know that I’m technically a different person than Axel but I feel like we’re essentially one and the same. I’m not expecting you to forgive me or whatever, but I just wanted it to be said that I am sorry for what I did.”

            The bluntness of the statement caught Kairi off guard. “It’s okay,” she started to say reflexively, but he cut her off.

            “Really, Princess, it’s not okay. I’m saying don’t pretend it is. I’d rather you hate me and we start from there than we pretend everything is fine.”

            Kairi took a second to collect her thoughts. “Alright then, Ax… Lea.” He did a good job of disguising the wince. “I won’t pretend I’m happy to be training with you, but I don’t hate you. That said,” she added, patting the notebook she’d taken to wearing on her hip, “I can’t promise Naminé feels the same way.”

            “I wouldn’t expect her to suddenly be okay with me either.” Lea sighed. “Well, might as well get moving. The sooner we get started, the sooner we can get back to our friends.” With that, the two of them boarded the gummi ship, and made their way to Merlin in the cockpit.

            “Ah, ready to go?” the mage asked, either very tactful or completely oblivious to the frigid air between the two Keybearers.

            “Just about,” Lea responded, and Kairi nodded. “You haven’t told us where we’re going yet, old man.”

            “Well, there is only so much I can teach the two of you, so between my lessons we’ll be travelling amongst other worlds. Lea, I know you’ve done this before, but the matter is a little different for a Keybearer – or so I’m told. And Kairi, of course, has never truly been able to travel the worlds to this extent.

            “The worlds we’ll be visiting have not been touched by the taint of Darkness, as far as Master Yen Sid and I are aware. So while there may still be danger, you’ll be able to gain experience for the battles to come in a way not _as_ life-threatening as the paths Sora and Riku took.”

            “Sounds good,” Lea said, but something seemed odd about that phrasing to Kairi. She tugged on Lea’s sleeve as Merlin began to take off.

            “Did he say… not _AS_ life-threatening?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All right, so, fun fact: This prologue was the second Kingdom Hearts fic I wrote after More Affection Than You Know.  
> That's right. I've been working on this since November of last year. It was also intended to be canon-compliant.  
> Then I had a better idea.  
> Since it was originally outlined with canon-compliance in mind, none of the worlds Kairi and Lea will be visiting have appeared in a Kingdom Hearts game yet, and they are all worlds I expect will NOT be appearing. To reiterate, these are my guesses for worlds that will NOT be included in Kingdom Hearts III.  
> This fic is completely written, but I've decided to go with a weekly update schedule because I haven't done that before, and I'm curious to see the reactions to some of the choices I've made.  
> And as I type this I realize how ominous it sounds. Whoops.


	2. Old Jungle

            During the first leg of their voyage, Merlin put the ship on autopilot and took them to a training room in the hull. This particular gummi ship didn’t match the design of the Disney Town-made vessel Sora, Donald, and Goofy travelled in. Merlin’s was rectangular, and slightly longer, leading to Lea dubbing it a “Space Bus”. Kairi was unamused, but Merlin merely passed it off with a chuckle.

            In the sparsely furnished training room, Merlin explained that he wanted to see what they already knew in the way of magic. Kairi was somewhat ashamed to admit that she didn’t know anything other than some basic cure spells Aerith had taught her in Traverse Town, but Lea was happy to demonstrate his command of fire magic.

            “Well, I can’t say you haven’t mastered the art of fire,” Merlin said, as he cast a water spell to extinguish his wardrobes. “But tell me, Lea, what happens if you run into someone who uses water magic?”

            “Well, historically I’ve had two options. Beat them through strength alone, or run.” Lea said, grinning.

            “And if neither of those are options?”

            “Then I don’t get into a fight at all.”

            “You’re not going to have much choice from this point forwards, you understand. The both of you are going to have to learn a variety of magic. There’s a saying about people who only master one discipline, you know.”

            “Jack of all trades, master of none?” Kairi asked.

            “But better that than a master of one,” Merlin replied. “Everyone seems to forget the second line. We have some time before we arrive, we’ll see how much you can absorb."

 

            Over the next few hours, Kairi managed to get a handle on the basic levels of Fire, Thunder, Aero, and Reflect. Try as she might, she just couldn’t seem to get a grasp on Blizzard. Lea, on the other hand, had picked up Cure and Thunder, but not much else. According to Merlin, he was too used to his Fire magic, and needed to unlearn his bad habits before learning anything new.

            A beeping from the cockpit brought the lesson to an abrupt end. Merlin rushed to the cockpit to guide the ship into a safe landing.

The gummi ship touched down amid greenery. Kairi recalled that Sora had been to a jungle area once, but if she trusted Merlin at his word that they wouldn’t be encountering any Heartless on this journey, it couldn’t be Deep Jungle.

            “Your Keyblades will tell you what world this is, so go out and meet some new people. But remember, you can’t tell people about other worlds,” Merlin warned.

            “Got it! Come on, Princess, let’s go see what this world has in the way of fun,” Lea said with a wink.

            “We’re not here to have fun, Lea, we’re here to train,” Kairi said, nonplussed by his flippant attitude. She followed him out of the gummi ship.

            “Train how, exactly? Merlin said, we’re here to meet people and not give the “multiple worlds” game away, got it memorized? I doubt there’s much practical training for us to do here.”

            “Even so, I’d hate to think you weren’t taking this seriously.”

            Lea snorted. “Princess, there’s a time and place for serious, and now is not it. Come on, relax! It’s a whole new world out there! Don’t you dare shut your eyes! Or something like that. What is this world called, anyway?”

 

**Old Jungle**

 

            “Well that was odd,” Lea muttered as the words faded out of the sky.

            “We’ve seen odder,” said Kairi. “I think that’s a trail there?” she added, pointing to a gap in the tree line.

            “Could be. Might as well follow it; we aren’t gonna meet anyone sitting around here.”

            The two Keybearers walked into the forest, on the lookout for anyone who might live in this world. The trail didn’t seem to really be going anywhere in particular, and Lea was starting to grow wary, though he made sure Kairi wouldn’t notice. They hadn’t become anything else to blend into the world, which indicated that there _were_ humans living there, but the jungle trail could easily have been made by an animal.

            There was a sudden stillness in the air, and Lea tensed so much that Kairi did notice. “Something wrong?” she asked him.

            “Jungle went still,” he said. “That’s usually not a good sign.”

            “What does that mean, like there’s a predator in the area or something?”

            “Could be.” Lea flicked his wrist and summoned his Keyblade. At Kairi’s skeptical look, he said, “Rather have it out and not need it, right?”

            “Good point,” Kairi said, summoning her own Keyblade.

            As it turned out, they needn’t have bothered.

            Overhead came a stream of monkeys, all heading towards one place. Kairi and Lea stared upwards in shock, but the monkeys took no notice of them, intent on reaching their destination.

            Kairi grabbed Lea’s arm and pointed at the end of the line. Four monkeys were carrying a struggling human child. The kid was wearing nothing but a loincloth.

            “Somehow I don’t think that’s normal,” Kairi said.

            “Probably not. Want to go interfere?”

            Kairi looked at him. “What?” Lea asked.

            “Helping someone in need doesn’t count as ‘interference’,” she said, and smiled conspiratorially at him.

            Lea grinned back. “Glad we agree.”

            “They’re heading west,” Kairi said. “Fortunately, so is the path. I wouldn’t want to move off of it.”

            Lea nodded, but before they could start after the monkey swarm, two dark shapes emerged from the underbrush.

            A panther and a sloth bear stepped out, so engrossed in an argument with one another that they didn’t even notice the Keybearers. Experience with Mickey, Donald, and Goofy had prepared Kairi and Lea for talking animals, but these two were in almost no way anthropomorphic.

            “I’m telling you, they went _that_ way!” the panther hissed.

            “And all I’m saying is we’ll get where we’re going either way, so don’t get so worked up,” said the bear.

            “Mowgli is in _danger_ , Baloo! Those monkeys work for Louie, and who knows _what_ they’ll do to him!”

            Baloo, the bear, glanced to the side and finally noticed Lea and Kairi with a start. “Uh, Bagheera? We’ve got company.”

            “What, more monkeys? Oh.” The panther turned to look at them.

            “Uh… hi,” said Lea.

            “If you’re looking for the monkeys that were carrying the kid, they went that way,” Kairi said, pointing west.

            “Bagheera,” Baloo said out of the corner of his mouth, “Are you understanding everything they’re saying, too?”

            “Yes of course I am,” Bagheera snapped. “Which means they’re understanding us, and you aren’t being at all subtle.”

            “Right, right. Well. Hello. I’m Baloo, and this is Bagheera.”

            “I’m Kairi, and this is Lea,” she replied.

            “You don’t look like you’re from the Man-Village,” Bagheera said. He seemed to be a naturally suspicious person.

            “No, we’re from… further away,” said Lea. “Look, we were about to go try to rescue that kid, so to me, it seems like we want the same thing? Strength in numbers, right?”

            “I suppose so…” Bagheera said slowly. “And it would mean Mowgli won’t be alone going to the Man-Village. But you had better be prepared. King Louie has him. And I can’t think of anyone in the jungle more deranged and unpredictable.”

 

 

            “You call this deranged and unpredictable?” Lea asked. Kairi shushed him. He looked at her pleadingly. “I mean, come on, it’s a musical number!”

            They were overlooking Louie’s court in the ruins of a temple. The king, which Kairi was a little surprised to see was an orangutan, not a monkey, was attempting to convince Mowgli to give him the secret of making fire. There was just one problem.

            “Mowgli was raised by a wolf pack! He doesn’t know how to make fire!” Bagheera hissed. “If he can’t give Louie what he wants, who knows what he’ll do.”

            “Yeah, but would you just listen to this beat?” Baloo said. Bagheera shot him a dirty look, but the sloth bear continued the dance he’d been doing almost since he arrived.

            “Would you stop that silly ‘beat’ business and listen?” said Bagheera. “This will take brains, not brawn.”

            “Good thing we’ve got both,” Lea winked.

            “Will you listen?” Bagherra hissed angrily. “Now, while you create a disturbance, I’ll rescue Mowgli. Got that?”

            “Bagheera?” Kairi asked. “Baloo’s gone.”

            “What? Not yet, Baloo!” Bagheera whisper-shouted, but the bear was too enamoured by the music to listen.

            Bagheera and Kairi watched in horror as Baloo, poorly disguised in a pair of coconuts and some ferns, danced onto the scene. Bagheera winced as Louie, excited to see someone who could scat just as well, jumped in to dance with him.

            “I can’t imagine how this could possible go any worse,” Bagheera moaned.

            Kairi looked around. “Wait… where’s Lea?”

            “HEY, YOUR APENESS. CHECK _THIS_ OUT!” came a shout in Lea’s voice. Kairi groaned. “It just got worse,” she said.

            Lea strode out onto the temple floor, looking for all the world like he owned the place. He grinned and addressed Louie.

            “So word on the…” Lea glanced to the jungle canopy, “ _vine_ is that you want the secret of fire.”

            “Are you making me an offer, Man?” Louie asked. “Because I already have my cousin the Man-cub here to give me what I need.”

            “The kid doesn’t know how to make fire,” said Lea. “Thing is, though… _I do_.” And with that, he called forth a Fire in his palm. Bagheera’s mouth dropped open and Kairi clapped a hand to her forehead.

            Louie stared at the flickering flame, hypnotized. “Well, well, cousin,” he said. “How can I convince you to teach me what you know, so I can be like you?”

            Lea laughed. “There ain’t nobody like me but me, got it memorized? But if you let the kid go, I can teach you a few things.”

            Louie motioned to his monkeys, who moved to grab Mowgli and bring him over to Baloo. The bear’s disguise had long since fallen off, but Lea’s appearance had distracted the court from doing anything.

            “Now, your part of the deal, cousin. Lay the secret on me,” Louie said, barely containing his excitement.

            “First things first,” Lea said. “You’ve got to learn how to respect fire. Because if you don’t…” he moved his hand towards Louie. The orangutan king reached out a hand to grab it, but pulled it back, having burned himself. “…it’ll bite,” Lea finished, wearing a nasty gin.

            Louie scrambled backwards, clutching his burnt hand. Lea stalked towards him. “You know, considering all that hair you have, it’s probably for the best you don’t know how to make fire. You’d go up in an _instant_. It’d look beautiful, I’m sure, but it’d be pretty painful for you.”

            “Lea, enough!” Kairi yelled, but he didn’t seem to hear her.

            “And of course, all this greenery,” Lea continued, still moving towards the now-cowering Louie. “If you aren’t careful with fire, you’d be liable to burn the whole jungle down. And you wouldn’t want that, right?” He held the fire out towards Louie again, a sadistic grin on his face.

            “AXEL! THAT’S ENOUGH!” Kairi stepped in between the two of them, Keyblade out and pointed directly at Lea. Pure fury defined her face.

            And Lea knew he had fucked up.

            He banished the fire and stepped back. “So, probably for the best if I don’t give you the ‘secret’,” he said, subdued.

            “We’re leaving,” Kairi hissed. She still held her Keyblade.

            “Yes, I believe that would be for the best,” Bagheera added, coming up behind Kairi. “You are clearly a danger to this jungle and everyone in it, so I must insist you be on your way.”

            “We’ll find our way back by ourselves,” Kairi said, pointedly not looking at Lea. “I wish we could part on better terms. Come on, Axel.”

            He opened his mouth to correct the name, then realized, no, that had been Axel right there, hadn’t it. Maybe Merlin was right.

            He did need to unlearn those old, bad habits.

 

 

            The trek back to the gummi ship was mostly in silence. Lea had tried to offer an apology but Kairi had just told him to shut up. He hadn’t expected anything else, but figured it would have been worse if he hadn’t bothered making the effort trying to. If only there was a way to convince her he was sincerely remorseful.

            They had followed the monkeys for a full day to get to the temple, and so it was the evening of the next day by the time they climbed the last hill before the clearing. At the top, Kairi stopped and looked at him.

            “You know, I wanted to think you had changed. That getting your heart back had made you a decent person. But that shit? That’s unacceptable, Lea. Intimidation and terror is not how we do things.”

            “…I know. I fucked up.”

            “You did. I still don’t hate you, but shape up. If this happens again I’m taking you out myself.” Never mind how patently ridiculous the idea that she could take him in a fight was, he believed that she meant it.

            Their conversation was interrupted by a faint scent.

            “Is that..?” Kairi started, but Lea was already certain.

            “That’s burning wood. There’s a fire!”

           

            They climbed the tallest tree they could find and looked out towards a wasteland at the edge of the jungle. The dead trees there had caught fire, likely the result of lighting. Though the clouds were thick, they didn’t seem to want to give up any of the rain that would stop the blaze.

            “This is horrible,” Kairi whispered. “The jungle will burn down. There’s no way to stop it.”

            Lea looked at his hand, then back up to the clouds. “Maybe there is,” he said.

            “What do you mean?”

            “What if we gave the clouds a little push? Jumpstarted the rain?”

            “How the hell are we supposed to do that?”

            Lea grinned. “Water magic!”

            Kairi pinched her nose. “Neither of us can do water magic, Lea. And enough to put out this inferno? It’s impossible.”

            Lea looked at her. “As impossible as turning a Heartless back into a person? As impossible as a Nobody, or a Replica growing a heart? As impossible as finding a way out of the Realm of Darkness?” He summoned his Keyblade and held it in front of him. “Look, I fucked up today. I know that, and I can’t fix it. But going beyond the possible to save people? Even if it seems like we’ll fail? Isn’t _that_ how we do things?”

            Kairi sighed, then chuckled and summoned her own Keyblade. “You’re still in trouble, even if we pull this off.”

            “Wouldn’t expect anything else.” The two raised their Keyblades and crossed them in the air, both focusing their magic power to bring forth an element neither had mastered. Their voices raised in an identical cry.

            “ _WATER!_ ”

            From their Keyblades, steam issued, and gradually formed into a cloud. The small cloud soared up into the air, and as soon as it contacted the thunderhead, started a downpour.

            Like a chain reaction, rainfall started from the rest of the cloud cover, gradually spiraling outwards. Drained, the two of them hung in the tree and laughed as they got drenched.

            In the distance, the fire faded, and went out. “We did it!” Lea crowed. Kairi grinned at him, and even though she was still pissed at him, she had to admit she was proud of them both.

 

            Though waterlogged, they made it back to the gummi ship and reported to Merlin on their activities while toweling off. He didn’t seem to be angry at Lea’s conduct.

            “Do you feel like you have a better grip on what you need to improve on?” he asked instead. Lea nodded. “Good. As long as you keep your shortcomings in mind and try whenever you can to surpass them, you’ll do fine. Are we ready to move on to the next world?”

            “Yeah, I think we are,” said Kairi. The gummi ship rose into the sky, and entered the space between worlds.

 

 

**Obtained the power of waves. Learned Water**

**Obtained Keychain: Bear Necessities**

**Obtained Keychain: Brothers All**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I was finally able to play every Kingdom Hearts game that wasn't released on a Nintendo system after this Christmas, and I was playing Kingdom Hearts 1 while conceiving of how this fic would be structured. Thus, Kairi and Lea will be receiving new powers and Keychains as they progress through the worlds they'll be visiting.  
> And yes, I know Water isn't a spell in Kingdom Hearts. But it is in Final Fantasy, and that's close enough for me. No, this wasn't the 'canon divergence' I have tagged. Trust me, you'll know it when we get there.  
> As a little kid I always wondered why King Louie was so gung-ho about wanting fire when he was covered in (very flammable) hair. Here we see some exploration of why that's a safety hazard.  
> I'll admit to having seen the live action Jungle Book much more recently than the animated one, so I'm pretty sure the threat of fire to the jungle is from the newer movie. But, it made for a good hook.  
> The "T" rating is entirely for the language. It's not so much that I didn't want to use foul language in my other works, it's more that Sora was in most of them. People just don't swear around him. He radiates a sort of "Definitely Innocent, So No Expletives, Y'all" field around himself. A "DISNEY" field, if you will.


	3. Kingdom of the Sun

            Lea hacked at the foliage with his Keyblade, trying to find the trail. He had taken point position since Kairi’s Keyblade didn’t really have much in the way of cutting edges.

            “Really, another jungle?” he said, mostly to himself. “This had better not be the entire journey.”

            To be fair, this was a different jungle entirely. The trees were all different, for one, and the region was much more mountainous. There was even a city they could see in the distance, which they were currently walking towards.

            Lea could feel Kairi’s eyes on the back of his neck. He was still in hot water with her following the events in Old Jungle. Honestly speaking, he was a bit disgusted with himself, as well. He had resolved to be better, but he guessed it would be a while to earn back what little of Kairi’s trust he had had.

            The time between their departure from the first jungle and their arrival in this new one had been filled with magic practice. While they hadn’t picked up any new spells, they had both managed to upgrade what magic they had already known to the –ra level. Lea was still a bit shaky with Watera, considering it was the opposite of his chosen element, but he could cast it properly in a pinch.

            He pulled apart a clump of tall grass, and got a wonderful view of the city shining below. A palace rested in the centre of it, which for some reason was shaped like a giant face. They still had a long way to go to reach it.

            “Odd motifs, this world has,” he said, this time loud enough that Kairi could hear.

            “They give the palace a sense of intimidation, at least,” Kairi said, tone indicating she would prefer not to talk to him. Lea sighed to himself. A long way to go.

 

**Kingdom of the Sun**

 

            They finally found the trail to the city, though it seemed like they would be walking for some time. It could have been worse, Lea reflected; they could have been on the wrong mountain.

            They had been walking for about an hour when they heard the sound of arguing over the next rise. They gave each other a look, both wondering if running into a pair of bickering natives was going to be a trend. Upon reaching the top of the small hill in the trail, they were surprised to see a man in a green poncho and brown hat, and a red-and-black llama. Lea could have sworn he had heard two voices.

            “Hey, fellow travellers!” he called before Kairi could stop him, “How’s it going?”

            The man looked at the llama, and to Lea’s mild surprise, the llama seemed to be looking back at him.

            “Oh, you know,” the man said, cautious but trying hard not to seem cautious, “it goes.”

            Lea could have sworn the llama rolled its eyes.

            “What about you?” he asked it. “Everything going well?”

            The man laughed. “Oh, uh, he can’t talk. What you heard was, uh, me, talking to myself.” It was unlikely that a man with this deep a voice could have produced a voice as high-pitched and whiny as the other one had been.

            “Riiight,” Lea said, drawing out the word as the man sweated.

            Kairi, meanwhile, had moved over to the llama, which didn’t seem to notice her, intent as it was on the man’s conversation with Lea.

            Until she touched its neck to pet it, whereupon it jumped half a foot in the air, and screeched, “NO TOUCHY! NO TOUCHY! Oh,” it added, calming down and noticing everyone was staring at it, “Whoops.”

            The man sighed. “Well, I guess you caught us. Nice job, Kuzco.”

            “Hey, what was I supposed to do? I have this thing called ‘personal space’. It’s important to me!” The llama spoke in the other voice they’d heard.

            “Caught you?” Kairi asked. “Are you two in trouble?”

            “Yeah, from your boss the dinosaur,” Kuzco said. “Don’t try to deny it, only Yzma would hire someone as funny-looking as the two of you. I still don’t know where she found a troupe of blue-and-red people to be palace guards.”

            “Sorry to disappoint you, or maybe this is good news, but we don’t have any idea who that person you’re talking about is,” said Lea.

            “We’re from a country far away,” Kairi added. “We’re just passing through.”

            The man looked up at the sky. “It’s getting late. We might as well stop for the night and tell the story. Although, I don’t know if you’ll believe it,” he added, turning to look at Kairi and Lea.

            The two exchanged a look. “I dunno, we’ve believed some pretty outlandish stuff,” Lea said.

 

 

            They found a clearing near the road and set about building a fire. Or at least, Lea, Kairi, and the man who had introduced himself as Pacha did. Kuzco set himself down and waited while they did all the work, not noticing all the glares Pacha sent his way. Once the fire was built, Pacha and Kuzco told them their story.

            “So you’re trying to get back to this Yzma’s lab to turn Kuzco back into a human before she catches you?” Kairi asked to clarify.

            “That’s right. Then I can go back to being Emperor and banish the living fossil and build my vacation home and everything will be right with the world,” said Kuzco. Pacha gave him an annoyed glance; the chosen site for Kuzco’s “vacation home” was right where Pacha’s house currently stood.

            “You know, maybe there’s another spot you could build your vacation home?” Kairi asked. “Seeing as how the spot is already taken and all?”

            Kuzco’s mouth dropped open. “What? After all I’ve been through? Being dragged up and down mountains by _him_?” he gestured at Pacha, “Noooo, no no no no. I deserve something nice and this is my gift to me! How dare you even suggest such a thing. Hmph!” With that, he got up and wandered away into the jungle.

            Lea shot to his feet. “Maybe I should go talk to him. Or at least gather some more firewood. Back in a bit.”

            “Don’t burn him,” Kairi said. It bothered her that she didn’t mean it as a joke. Lea, as opposed to a quip or joke, just nodded and walked off. Pacha looked at her, confused.

            “…it’s a long story,” she said.

            He motioned for her to tell it. “It seems like it’s bothering you. Sometimes telling someone about what’s bothering you can make you feel better.”

            She smiled, and started telling a cautiously edited version of the story. She left out anything that would have given away the secret, but left in enough that Pacha was able to get a reasonable understanding of Lea’s history, and why they were here. He leaned back against the log he was sitting in front of and nodded.

            “Do you have any idea why I’m taking Kuzco back to his palace, Kairi?”

            “Honestly, no. It looks like he treats you like garbage.”

            “He does. He’s never experienced a moment of hardship in his life. But I believe he has the potential to be a good person. What I’m doing here is giving him the opportunity to learn and grow. He’s never had that before, either.”

            Kairi frowned. “But what makes you so sure he’ll take that chance? He could just wind up staying like he is for the rest of his life.”

            “Sure, there’s only a chance that he’ll change even given the opportunity to. But if he was never given that opportunity at all, then there’d be no chance he’d change. All I can do is give him that chance. The rest is up to him.”

            Kairi sighed. “You aren’t just talking about Kuzco, are you.”

            Pacha smiled. “You’re right, I’m not.”

            “Do you have any kids, Pacha?”

            “I have two lovely children with a third on the way. Why?”

            “Because you’re sounding exactly like my father.” Kairi smiled back at him, and Pacha laughed.

 

 

            “-SO unfair! And why stop just to entertain oddly-haired weirdos we meet on the road?! I’m the EMPEROR, for Pete’s sake! He should be doing what I say, not the other way around!”

            Lea followed the sound of whinging through the trees, remembering to grab some dead branches off the ground for firewood.  He eventually reached Kuzco sitting on a rock, pouting.

            “Way I see it,” he said, “Right now you’re a llama, not an Emperor. So make the most of it.”

            “Make the most of it? Llamas can’t do anything!” Kuzco sneered. “Go away, this is my moping rock. Get your own.”

            “Hey, don’t discount llamas.” Lea had never actually met a llama, but he got the impression that somehow, Kuzco knew even less about them than he did. “It’s more like you can’t do anything without relying on others, isn’t it?”

            “Hey, I can so! I can…” he trailed off. “I can… hold on, let me think...”

            “My point is,” Lea said. “Pacha is doing a really nice thing for you, isn’t he? Especially since you seem intent on destroying his village?”

            “Yeah I guess so. But he is one of my people, and he’s got a duty to serve his emperor.” Kuzco stuck his snout in the air, eyes closed, not looking at Lea.

            “….but like I said, right now, you aren’t an Emperor, you’re a llama. So if he’s helping you, it’s out of the goodness of his heart, right?”

            Kuzco looked at him suspiciously. “I guess? What does this have to do with me?”

            “…maybe, since he’s doing this kind thing for you, you could show him kindness in return? Out of gratitude? And build your vacation home somewhere else?”

            Kuzco burst out laughing. “Oh! Oh, thank you so much, I needed that! No, no, don’t be ridiculous. Kuzco-topia is going right where I planned it. He said these hills practically sing when the light hits them in the morning, and that is what I want for my vacay home. Although,” he added, half to himself, “we’ve been up and down these hills for almost a week and I have yet to hear any singing.”

            Lea was sorely tempted to swat the bratty emperor upside the head, but resisted. He was thinking about a different track to try when a deep voice came out of the jungle on their left. It wasn’t Pacha’s voice.

            Kuzco froze. “Oh not good, not good. That’s Kronk!”

            “That’s who?”

            “Yzma’s right-hand man!” Kuzco shrank down, quivering in fear. Lea took charge, and pushed him into a bush.

            “Stay there, and keep quiet until I come back for you. Got it memorized?” Kuzco nodded fervently, and Lea turned to the noise as a tall, broad man in a simple blue and gold uniform wandered into a clearing. He was talking to a squirrel.

            The squirrel itself didn’t seem capable of speech, since the man was chittering at it in a deep baritone, but it did seem to be responding to him.

            “Hello there, traveler!” Lea called, and both the man and the squirrel looked at him, surprised.

            “Oh, hello,” said the man. “What brings you out here this late?”

            “I’m on a journey with my friend. We’ve stopped for the night and I’m gathering firewood. My name’s Lea,” he said, holding his hand out for the man to shake.

            “Kronk,” said the man. “Nice to meet you. Say, you wouldn’t happen to have come across a man and a llama on the road? My boss is trying to find them.”

            “No, no I can’t say I have,” Lea lied smoothly. “Did they do something wrong?”

            “Oh, well, not much, just some… tax evasion. Yeah,” Kronk lied with much less sincerity. Something on the ground caught his eye. “Are those llama tracks?” He moved over to inspect the ground where Kuzco had entered the clearing, exposing his back to Lea.

            It would have been a simple matter to bring his chakram down on the back of the man’s neck. Kronk would disappear in the woods, no one would know except himself and Kuzco, and Kuzco probably wouldn’t care. Hell, he might even give him a medal for it. Part of Kuzco and Pacha’s problems would be solved, easily.

            But that’s what Axel would have done.

            What was Lea going to do?

            He mentally sighed. “I think we did see a man and a llama on the road about a dozen miles back that way.” He gestured in a different direction from the way Kuzco and Pacha had been travelling.

            “Really? Aw, thanks a bunch!” Kronk grinned. Lea actually felt a little bad for having to deceive him. “I should go tell Yzma. Thanks again!”

            As he moved to leave, the squirrel he had been talking to stood over the bush Kuzco was hiding in, looked down, then gave Lea the most “that’s bullshit” look he had ever seen. Once Kronk was out of earshot, Lea turned to it and clasped his hands together.

            “Look, you probably don’t understand this language, but please don’t give the game away. I get that Kronk’s not really all that bad a guy, but his boss wants to kill that llama. I’m sure you don’t care. But regardless, I will get down on my knees and beg you.”

            The squirrel pondered this for a second, then gestured for Lea to kneel. Apparently it did understand him. _Must be a Keyblade thing_ , he thought as he bent over and pressed his forehead into the dirt. “Please do not tell Kronk that the llama he’s looking for was right here,” he said.

            The squirrel nodded, gave him a wink, and ran off after Kronk. Lea got back to his feet. Honestly it wasn’t the most humiliating thing he’d ever done. Once Kronk and the squirrel were far enough away, he went over to Kuzco’s bush to get him back up.

            “Up and at ‘em, your llamaness. Coast’s clear. We should head back to camp.”

            Kuzco stood up, still terrified. “Can’t walk. Too afraid. Carry me!” He held out his forelegs to wrap around Lea’s neck.

            Lea dodged the grab. “I’m sure your legs work just fine. Come on, let’s go.” He grabbed Kuzco by the scruff of his neck and dragged him back towards the fire.

 

 

            Kairi and Pacha looked up as Lea and Kuzco returned to camp. Lea was, as promised, carrying some extra firewood.

            “I have some news,” Lea said. “Might be good, might be bad.” He filled them in on his encounter with Kronk.

            “He was so brave! I mean, the bush needed me, so I couldn’t have done anything myself, but making Kronk go away like that? He’s a real hero!”

            “Thanks, Kuzco, but it was nothing,” Lea demurred. Kuzco missed the sarcasm entirely.

            Kairi gave Lea an appraising look. “There was an opportunity you had to… knock him out. You didn’t take it?”

            Lea scratched the back of his head and looked away. “Yeah… I figured, that’s not how we do things.”

            Kairi smiled. It seemed Lea was on his way to learning his lesson after all. “Good job, Lea.”

            He broke into a smile as well. “Thanks, Princess.”

           

 

            They bid goodbye to Pacha and Kuzco the following morning, figuring the city wasn’t really a smart place to be at the moment. As they reached the gummi ship, Kairi turned to Lea.

            “Okay, I’ll admit it.”

            “Admit what?”

            “That you do deserve another chance.”

            Lea was taken aback. “What, just from that?”

            “That, and because you seem committed to changing yourself. If I refuse to believe you can change, then we’ll never really learn to work together.” Kairi moved to open the gummi ship door. “So far, you’re doing an okay job of proving it to me. Keep it up.”

            Lea smiled. “Maybe I should take it as a challenge.” At her questioning look, he added, “See if I can prove it to you before I prove it to myself.”

            Kairi chuckled. “Let’s get going.”

 

 

**Obtained Keychain: Mountainside Sunrise**

**Obtained Keychain: Wrong Lever**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the interests of being perfectly transparent, I found out about a month after finishing this chapter that I'm not the first person to use a variation on "Kingdom of the Sun" as a world name for The Emperor's New Groove. The name comes from the title of the original script that was reworked into the movie we know today. Regardless, you should check out Genius1996's Acolytes of Chaos series on this very website.   
> To be honest, I'm a bit worried that the resolution between Lea and Kairi here might seem a bit too pat, but the problems between the two of them aren't what the main focus of this fic is supposed to be; Penpals can attest to that. At this point, though, they're still not friends yet. Yet.   
> The next chapter is the first chapter I finished for this fic. It will have Naminé. And some good, old-fashioned existentialism. Who doesn't love that?  
> Oh? What Disney movie is that going to be, you ask?   
> Well... Disney isn't the only media owner with a hand in Kingdom Hearts...


	4. Gran Pulse

            “Are you sure about this?” Lea asked as they disembarked from the gummi ship. “I thought we were on a time crunch, do we really have time for a week-long hike?”

            “Time flows differently in this world,” Merlin replied. “They have twenty-six hour days, for one. Overall, the week you spend here will be roughly equivalent to a day spent in Twilight Town, for example.”

            Lea decided against pointing out it was practically impossible to judge time in Twilight Town, due to the entire world being time-locked to the early evening. Kairi was already on the ground, and looked impatient to be setting off.

            Lea hopped off the ramp and sidled up next to her. “You have the map?” he asked.

            Kairi tapped her pocket. “Right here. You want to take a look? Get it mem–”

            “I’m gonna stop you right there, Princess. I trust your navigational abilities just fine.” The slight teasing she had recently started subjecting him to was better than the dirty looks she’d been giving him previously. Hopefully she was starting to warm up to him a bit.

            Kairi snickered. “Alright. So we’re heading for the base of that tower in the distance.” She waved towards a massive ruin that stretched for, as far as Lea could tell, miles.

            “Wow. Were they trying for the whole ‘climb to Heaven’ thing or what?”

            “Heaven, I don’t think so. Maybe for that?” Kairi pointed to a spot in the sky and Lea’s mouth dropped open. Hanging in the air was a massive silver sphere. He had initially dismissed it as a moon, but it was much, much too close to be one.

            “Yeah. Yeah, maybe for that.”

 

**Gran Pulse**

 

            They had been walking for a couple hours when the sound of an enraged beast echoed from a valley on their right. They gave each other a quick glance and summoned their Keyblades before going to investigate the sound.

            At the bottom of the valley, a group of five gremlin-like creatures were fighting three people: two women with brown and pink hair, respectively, and a boy with white hair. As they watched, one of the gremlins started to cast a spell, until it was smacked in the face by the brown-haired woman. They were close enough to hear her yell, “None of that now! Don’t let them summon anything! They’ll drop an Uridimmu on our asses if we give them half the chance!”

            “Working on it,” the pink-haired woman hissed. She swung the sword she was holding in a peculiar way and it collapsed into a gun. She sprayed two of the remaining gremlins and they vanished, but behind her, another gremlin had completed its spell.

            A gigantic wolf-like creature sprang into existence, and with a roar, took a swipe at the pink-haired woman – only for its paw to crash against two Keyblades.

            Kairi and Lea glanced at each other, both a bit startled to see that the other one had moved, too. The pink-haired woman scowled at both of them, but took their appearance in stride. She fired at the monstrosity, but it shrugged off her shots and pushed Lea and Kairi to their knees.

            Kairi was beginning to understand just how unused to combat she really was.

            Lea tossed a Firaga at the monster’s face, to the shock of the three locals, but the fireball did almost nothing. The monster shrieked at them and charged, knocking them both off their feet. It wheeled around for another charge. Lea recovered enough to dodge out of the way, but Kairi couldn’t get to her feet in time. Heart in her throat, she raised her Keyblade as the monster rushed forwards–

            Only to be tackled out of the way by the pink-haired woman. They landed in an awkward position, and the woman grimaced in pain. The monster, angered at missing its prey, moved to charge again, but was distracted by a boomerang whistling past its face, thrown by the white-haired boy. The pink-haired woman took the opportunity to raise her gun, gritting her teeth through the pain, and took two shots.

            The monster screamed in pain as each shot took one of its eyes. It turned itself towards the woman and Kairi and moved to pounce, only to collapse forwards with the brunette woman’s spear buried in the back of its neck.

            The danger passed, the group hurried back together. “Lightning!” the white haired boy cried. “Are you okay? Let me look at your leg.”

            “I’m fine, Hope,” the pink-haired woman – Lightning, apparently – said, and started to rise, but tumbled back to the ground the second she tried to put weight on her left foot.

            “You don’t look fine,” the brunette said. “Well, your leg doesn’t. The rest of you…” She trailed off as Lightning fixed her with a glare that could freeze lava.

            “Um, I’m really sorry about this,” Kairi said. “I know some healing magic, if you don’t mind me trying to fix your ankle..?” The offer died on her lips as the three’s attention turned to her and Lea.

            “Magic?” Hope asked. “Are you l’Cie?”

            “What’s a l’Cie?” Lea asked. The three stared at him like he’d grown a second head. Wordlessly, Hope raised his hand and undid a wristband around his left arm, showing off a tattoo-like marking similar to an eye surrounded by arrows.

            “Where are you from that you don’t know about l’Cie?” Lightning asked, voice cold with suspicion – or maybe her voice was just cold in general. Kairi was a little taken aback by how intense the woman was.

            “A long way away,” she said, heavily conscious of the fact that they were a hair’s breadth away from revealing the secret of other worlds.

            “Must be. You don’t look Pulsian,” said the brunette.

            “They don’t have your accent either, Fang,” Hope said.

            The brunette – Fang – glanced at him. “What accent?”

            “N…nevermind.”

            “If you aren’t l’Cie, how can you do magic?” Lightning asked, still suspicious.

            “Where we come from, it’s a skill almost anyone can pick up,” Lea lied smoothly. “Now, you keep using that term, and from how defensive you’re acting I’m thinking it’s not a good thing. What’s a l’Cie?”

            “A former person, cursed by the fal’Cie, beings that think of themselves as gods,” Lightning spat, words full of bitterness.

            “If you haven’t put it together yet, we’re l’Cie,” Fang offered. “The fal’Cie branded us with these marks,” she indicated a similar mark to Hope’s on her shoulder, though hers was white instead of black, and looked like it was somehow frozen, “and burdened us with a purpose. If we succeed in the time we have, we get put in stasis in crystal until they decide we’re needed again. If we fail, we turn into monsters called Cie’th.”

            “Why’s yours different?” Lea asked.

            “I completed a purpose once. I guess. My memory’s kind of hazy. It was seven hundred years ago, you know.”

            “So you have a brand, too?” Kairi asked Lightning. She nodded, her expression still hostile. Kairi was starting to think that might be her default look. “Can I see it?”

            To her confusion, Lightning actually reddened a little. Before she could ask what she had said, Fang cut in, “Yeah, Light. Show us your cleavage!”

            The death glare returned, and Kairi blushed and apologized, but Lightning just shook her head. “It’s fine,” she muttered.

            Next to her, Lea was barely holding in his laughter. “Day whatever the hell: Kairi asks a woman to show her her tits. Can’t wait to see Sora’s face when I tell him about this.”

            “You wouldn’t dare. It’s not even that funny.” Kairi grumbled.

            “No, but his face will be. So will Riku’s, come to think of it.” Kairi did her best imitation of Lightning’s glare. It didn’t seem to faze him.

            Hope, meanwhile, was checking Lightning’s ankle. “It’s just a sprain,” she admonished. “I can walk it off and be fine.”

            “Wouldn’t walking on it make it worse?” Hope asked. From the way he met her stare, they both knew the answer was yes.

            “C’mon, big guy,” Fang said to Lea. “Might as well make yourself useful and give me a hand bringing sunshine here back to camp.”

            Lightning looked less than enthused about both the nickname and the thought of being carried, but she allowed Fang and Lea to slide her arms around their shoulders and hoist her up. With some minor difficulty, the group started down a path following Hope.

            “Gonna add my apology to my friend’s,” Lea said conversationally. “We didn’t mean to get in your way.”

            “You did stop the Uridimmu from flattening me,” Lightning said. “Don’t think anything of it. You wouldn’t be the first civilians I’ve had to rescue from a combat zone.”

            “Wait, civilians? We have weapons, you know. We can handle ourselves.”

            Lightning scoffed. “You, maybe. Your friend, not so much.”

            “Hey, what’s that supposed to–”

            “She’s right, Lea,” Kairi said, quietly. “I’ve never had any formal combat training. I guess I’ve just been lucky up until now.”

            Lea sighed. “Fair point. Frankly all the combat experience I’ve had is with a different weapon, anyway. I’m still new to this.” He summoned his Keyblade and waved it before dismissing it. Fang and Lightning took the vanishing weapon in stride.

            “We can’t fight in a war like this. I don’t know what Merlin thinks we’re supposed to be learning, but all the magic in the worlds isn’t going to help us if we don’t have basic combat with Keyblades down.”

            “Absolutely not you can’t fight in a war like that! Who the hell would be enough of a moron to send people like you to a warzone?” Lightning said sharply.

            “I don’t think she means any offense by that,” Hope called back.

            “If we don’t fight, everything we care about will be destroyed,” Kairi said.

            “Everyone, too,” Lea added helpfully. “Don’t really have a choice in the matter.”

            Lightning fell silent as they neared the camp. Three additional people – two men and a girl – sprang to their feet, the largest man running towards them.

            “Light, are you okay?” he asked. An expression of irritation crossed Lightning’s face… Kairi thought. It was hard to tell given her neutral expression seemed to be moderate annoyance.

            “I’m fine, Snow. It’s just a sprain. I’ll live.”

            The other man, who looked older than the rest of the group, had followed him. “And who are our guests, exactly?” He looked more cautious than suspicious.

            “Actually, you didn’t really introduce yourselves, did you?” Fang asked.

            “I’m Lea, this is Kairi,” Lea said.

            “No last names?” the man asked.

            “Uh, not where we’re from, no.” Lea said.

            “Fair enough,” said the man. “Sazh Katzroy.” He held out his hand for Kairi to shake.

            “Pleasure,” Kairi said, taking it.

            “If we’re doing full names, then, I’m Oerba Yun Fang, and the ray of sunshine there is Lightning Farron.” Fang had transferred Lightning into the tall man’s care and came up next to them.

            “Snow Villiers,” the man called over his shoulder.

            “Hope Estheim,” Hope added, hurrying after him.

            The girl came up to the group, too. “Oerba Dia Vanille, at your service.”

            Lea pointed between Fang and Vanille. “Sisters?”

            They both smiled. “Practically, yeah, but Oerba is the name of our hometown.” Fang clarified.

            “You’re not from around here, then?” Vanille asked.

            “They’re from far enough away that they’ve never heard of fal’Cie or l’Cie,” Fang said.

            “Is that even physically possible? I thought they ran the whole damn planet?” Sazh asked.

            “Apparently.”

            “Are you three l’Cie, too?” Kairi asked.

            “Yep. Not much we can do about it, you understand,” said Sazh.

            “What happened?”

            Sazh sighed. “That’s a long story, kid. And it’s not over yet.” He told them about how each of them had pretty much been in the wrong place at the wrong time, and were caught in circumstances beyond their control. “The fal’Cie have Lightning’s sister, who is also Snow’s fiancée, and my son, Dajh. We’re supposed to destroy Cocoon – that’s the big silver orb in the sky, I’m assuming you’ve seen it?” Lea and Kairi nodded. It was hard to miss. “It’s where Light, Snow, Hope, and I are from. Fang and Vanille are from here, but they were in stasis for 700 years or so. So we’re doing the only thing we can.”

            “Which is?” Lea asked.

            “Going back up to Cocoon and telling the fal’Cie to get off our backs.” Lightning limped back into view, begrudgingly supporting herself on Snow. Apparently the l’Cie’s Cure spells didn’t do much for sprains.

            “And if we can get Serah and Dajh back while we do it, so much the better,” Snow added.

            “What about you?” Vanille asked. “What are the two of you doing here?”

            “Training. There’s a war about to start where we’re from, and our side isn’t exactly prepared for it just yet,” said Lea.

            “They say they’ll lose everything they care about if they don’t stand up and fight,” Fang said.

            “…Sounds familiar, doesn’t it,” Vanille said sadly. There was a story there, Kairi was sure, but she decided to leave the issue for now.

            “Where are you headed?” Lightning asked.

            “We’re being picked up at the base of that tower in the distance,” Kairi said. She held out the map Merlin had given her and Vanille eagerly snatched it.

            “Taejin’s Tower? We’re heading the same way. Oerba’s right around that area,” she said.

            “I guess that settles it,” Lightning said.

            “Settles what?”

            “If we’re going the same way, you might as well travel with us. And since I need to wait for my ankle to heal, I might as well give the two of you some pointers on handling a sword.”

            Lea’s mouth almost dropped open, but he managed to catch himself in time. Snow didn’t, and Lightning punched him in the shoulder.

            “You sure about that, Light? You don’t strike me as much the teaching type,” Fang said.

            Lightning turned the glare back on her. “You remember I was a sergeant in the Guardian Corps, right?”

            “Yeah?”

            “What exactly do you think sergeants _do_?”

            Fang shrugged. “Look good in miniskirts?”

            Sazh cleared his throat. “They participate in the training of new recruits, if I recall correctly.”

            “Oh.”

            “So yes, I can, in fact, teach.”

            Kairi smiled. “That would be fantastic, Lighning, thank you so much.”

            Lightning smiled back. There was no humour in it. Kairi had the sudden sensation of a prey animal being spotted by a much, much larger predator.

            Snow motioned Lea over and wrapped an arm around his shoulder. “Word of advice? Serah is a preschool teacher, and she’s known to be somewhat… terrifying, if her kids misbehave. Lightning being… you know, how she is, I’d try to stay on her good side if I was you.”

            “Noted. Thanks,” Lea said. He had his doubts as to whether or not Lightning even _had_ a good side.

           

 

            As it turned out, she didn’t.

            “Left foot! Right foot!” she yelled as Kairi and Lea struggled to keep up with the footwork she had assigned them. The footwork, she had explained, was one of the key points of swordfighting. It didn’t matter how well they could swing the weapon, if they were off balance, they were finished. “Faster!”

            She had set them a series of poses to adopt and once they had mastered them to her satisfaction, Lightning began calling out changes to them. Currently, they were both empty-handed, Lightning insisting they know the position with their natural balance before offsetting it with the weight of their Keyblades.

            While they trained, Sazh and Fang scouted ahead, and Vanille and Snow gathered supplies. Hope stayed by Lightning’s side, though she would glare at him whenever he suggested she take it easy. Lightning herself was sitting beneath a tree, leg stretched out.

            After a while, she said, “All right. Get your weapons and start the drills over.”

            Lea and Kairi grinned at each other, and summoned their Keyblades.

            “You’re going to have to teach me that trick at some point,” Lightning said under her breath. Louder, she added, “Hope, I’m using you as a crutch.”

            Hope blinked. “Light, there’s nothing wrong with having to rely on other people. I know you’ve felt like you have to be emotionally distant, but if you think you’re ready to open up, I–”

            “Hope,” Lightning interrupted. “I’m going to lean on you. As I walk around. And check their forms.”

            “Oh. You meant… oh. Sorry, Light.”

            “It’s fine,” she muttered. There was the barest hint of amusement in her voice, and Kairi could have sworn her lips were starting to turn up on the sides.

            Hope pulled Lightning into a standing position, and they walked around Lea and Kairi as they moved through the stances.

            “Lea, you’re putting too much weight on your back foot. Kairi, you’re extending your arms too far. Do it again.”

            They moved through the stances again and Lightning shook her head. “I hope you understand this is going to be a long week for all of us.”

            “It’ll be worth it, at least for us,” Lea said.

            “Thanks again, Lightning,” Kairi added.

            Lightning smiled the predatory smile again. “That’s _Sergeant Farron_ to you, recruit. And don’t thank me yet. You have no idea how hard I’m going to have to work you.”

 

 

            Kairi groaned as she collapsed onto the sleeping bag in their tent. Lea echoed the sentiment.

            “I keep telling myself a week of this will be worth it,” she mumbled. “But I haven’t ached like this in years. And this was just day one?”

            “Hey, the ache means you’re learning. At least it’s better than wandering pointlessly in the wilderness. You think Merlin knew we’d meet these people?”

            “I can’t see how he would’ve, unless he can see the future or something.” Kairi said. She was slowly drifting off to sleep.

            “Would you be surprised if he could?” Lea’s voice sounded sleepy, too.

            “Honestly? Not really.” Kairi yawned. “It’d be nice if he did, considering how confident he is in us winning.”

            “Can’t argue with that logic.” Lea matched her yawn. “Goodnight, Princess.”

            “Goodnight, Lea.”

 

 

            The next few days featured the party of eight waking up early, travelling until about midday, then setting up camp while Lightning trained Lea and Kairi. Lightning had begrudgingly allowed Snow to carry her on his back during the travels, after eliciting a promise from the entire group that Serah would never hear about it.

            Every night, some of the l’Cie would rotate shifts of watch. The fauna and an unexpected number of the flora of Gran Pulse were incredibly hostile, necessitating constant vigilance lest the party be overrun while sleeping. It was therefore around the middle of the night when Naminé awoke to the sound of someone weeping.

            She had been paying enough attention to what Kairi and Lea had been up to that her surroundings weren’t a surprise. She didn’t know how to wake Kairi up and didn’t want to deal with Lea just yet, which left her no choice but to go investigate the sound herself.

            She stuck her head out of the tent to see Vanille, sitting staring into the dying fire, clutching her knees to her chest and trying very hard to hold in her tears.

            Naminé very, very much wanted to go back to Kairi’s sleeping bag and pretend she hadn’t seen anything, but something inside her demanded she go and ask what was wrong. So she quietly stepped out of the tent, and took a step towards the fire.

            Vanille’s head whipped up the second her foot hit the ground, answering the question of how she considered watching the fire to be “keeping watch”.

            “Vanille?” she asked, trying to sound like Kairi. “Is everything all right?”

            “Oh, I’m okay, Kai–” she broke off, frowned, and looked inquisitively at Naminé. “You aren’t Kairi, are you?”

            A cold sweat ran down Naminé’s back. “What do you mean?”

            “Your eyes. Kairi’s eyes don’t look nearly as sad as yours do.” That left Naminé speechless.

            Vanille tilted her head and considered her. “You know, I’ve been remembering some strange old legends from the Dia clan lately. They claim that a long time ago, we were visited by people from other worlds. People who carried swords that looked like giant skeleton keys. They were always helpful and tried not to be in the way, but the Dia never figured out where they were coming from. Imagine my surprise when two people with weapons just like that show up out of nowhere, and don’t know about so many things we take for granted.”

            “I… uh…”

            Vanille patted the log beside her. “Your secret’s safe with me. I won’t tell anyone. I’m curious about who you are and where you come from, though.”

            Hesitantly, Naminé walked over and sat beside Vanille. “My name is Naminé,” she said, “And it’s a long story.” She gave Vanille a brief summary of what Keybearers were and how travel between worlds worked. The Pulsian listened intently, enraptured.

            “Very fascinating,” she said after Naminé finished, “but what about you? Who are you, and why are you in Kairi’s body?”

            “I’m… I’m someone who shouldn’t exist,” Naminé said, and then it all came spilling out, Nobodies and memories and Sora and Riku and the Organization and DiZ and Castle Oblivion and Twilight Town and Kairi, being part of Kairi but not being able to be _just_ part of Kairi. Vanille listened quietly, and didn’t seem to be judging her choices. If anything, she seemed intrigued by the former Nobody.

            “Can I ask you something?” she said when Naminé was done.

            “Yes?”

            “Did you have blonde hair? I keep seeing flashes of it and I don’t think it’s the fire.”

            Naminé touched Kairi’s auburn hair self-consciously. “Yes, I did.”

            “Sounds pretty,” Vanille said. For some reason, something in Naminé’s chest clenched. “For what it’s worth,” she added, “it sounds like things would have gone worse for all these people you mentioned, Kairi and this Sora and Riku, if you hadn’t existed.”

            “I hurt them.”

            “Yes, and then you helped them. And they seem to like you.”

            “They don’t really know me. I haven’t let them.”

            “Then maybe you should. Nothing worse than getting trapped in your own head. We always see ourselves in a worse light than other people do, so it’s good to get other people’s perspective.”

            “I don’t know if I want them to know me. It would just hurt them more if I… If…” Naminé broke off, and Vanille looked at her with concern. “Vanille, I’m not supposed to still exist,” she whispered.

            “But you do.”

            “I didn’t think I would after coming back to Kairi. And I went ahead with it anyway.”

            Light suddenly dawned on Vanille. “Oh,” she said. There wasn’t much else to say. The two sat in silence for a while, uncomfortable. Eventually, Naminé brought out her sketchbook. “Do you… mind if I draw you?” she asked. “It helps me sort things out.”

            “Oh yeah, absolutely!” Vanille said. “Do I need to pose or anything?”

            “No, just… talk about something. Anything.”

            So Vanille launched into a story about when she and Fang were young children in Oerba. As she talked, Naminé sketched, and a portrait of Vanille’s face began to take shape.

            But something was odd about it.

            “Um, I don’t mean to interrupt you,” Naminé said, confused, “But no matter what I try to do, the drawing keeps ending up looking like this.” She turned the drawing to show Vanille. It was a sketch of Vanille’s smiling face, but for some reason, there were tears running down her cheeks.

            Vanille froze. “That’s… an interesting choice,” she managed.

            “It’s not something I did on purpose. I think this came from you,” Naminé said, cautious but curious.

            “I don’t see why that could be. I’m fine, silly,” Vanille said with a smile.

            And Naminé heard the lie.

            The same lie she’d always tell Kairi.

            “… Vanille, I’ve never said to anyone what I admitted to you tonight,” she said. “Because if I did, that would make it real. There would be consequences, both for me and for the people I care about. If I told them how I really felt, I would hurt them.” She moved closer to Vanille on the log, looking directly at her. Vanille couldn’t meet her gaze. “I think that you’re going through something similar right now. And you’re holding it in, because you think you can’t tell anyone about it. Because you think knowing would hurt them. Because telling them would make it real.” A range of emotions slid over Vanille’s face, from shock, to anger, to hurt, to fear, to so much guilt. Naminé reached out and carefully placed her hand on the other girl’s, ready to draw it back if she flinched. She didn’t. “A whisper in a dead girl’s ear isn’t going to make it real,” she said.

            And Vanille broke down.

            In fits and starts, she told Naminé about the War of Transgression 700 years before, when she had first become a l’Cie.

            “We hurt… so many people, Naminé. So many people died because of Fang and me. And we didn’t even accomplish what we were tasked with doing. We didn’t destroy Cocoon as Ragnarok, because I was too afraid to go through with it. And when we woke back up… Dajh became a l’Cie and was taken from Sazh, because Fang and I tried to attack a Cocoon fal’Cie. Serah wandered into the chamber we had been in stasis in, and the fal’Cie there cursed her. Everything that’s happened to these people, to Fang, to Sazh, to Lightning and Snow, everything… it’s all my fault. And I don’t know how I’m going to make it up to them. I don’t even know if I’m going to last long enough to get the chance. Look,” she said, and lifted her skirt to show Naminé the l’Cie brand on her thigh. A very, very small part of Naminé was inordinately fascinated by Vanille’s legs, but most of her attention was on the brand. There were many more arrows on it than had been on Hope’s.

            “If I don’t complete my focus soon, I’ll become a Cie’th. My focus is to destroy Cocoon; to kill all those people living up there. I can’t. I can’t do that. I’m stuck.”

            “Does Fang not know about this?” Naminé asked.

            “She lost her memories when she came out of stasis. I’ve been keeping the truth about what really happened from her.” Vanille looked guilty about that, as well.

            Naminé gently tightened her grip on the other girl’s hand. “The way I see it, the only way out you have is to keep moving forwards. If you’re not going to make it to the end, don’t leave the people you care about in the dark. Tell Fang the truth, at least. She would want to know.”

            “I can’t do that. I can’t.” Vanille whispered.

            “You might not get a choice,” Naminé said, just as quietly. “I didn’t.”

            The two fell silent, still grasping each other’s hand. Finally, Vanille said, “I wish I could ask you to promise me you’ll come back and see me after you get your body back. But I don’t know if I’ll even be around for you to see by the time you do.”

            “It’s just as well,” said Naminé. “I don’t know if I’d be able to keep that promise.”

            Slowly, Vanille raised her arm and pulled Naminé closer to her. Naminé rested her head on Vanille’s shoulder. It wasn’t much of an embrace, but both of them needed it.

            “I’m glad you didn’t disappear,” Vanille whispered. “I’m glad I got to talk to you.”

            “I’m glad I got to meet you, too,” Naminé said, and to her surprise, she actually meant it.

            They stayed like that a while longer, both not wanting the moment to end, neither wanting to go back to pretending nothing was wrong with them. But eventually, Naminé had to get up, knowing Kairi would ask awkward questions in the morning if she wasn’t where she had fallen asleep. The two exchanged one last look as Naminé moved to enter Kairi and Lea’s tent.

            In the morning, Kairi wondered why she smelled faintly of vanilla. Naminé didn’t have an answer for her.

 

 

            Lea was starting to get a bit worried. They were on the seventh day of their trek and so far hadn’t even come close to the base of the tower. He couldn’t imagine that Merlin wouldn’t wait for them, but the urgency of their Keyblade training weighed on his mind. He was also starting to suspect he was jetlagged; the twenty-six hour days of Gran Pulse were starting to wear on him.

            On the plus side, the sword training was progressing well, to the point where the extent of their progress in so short a time was confusing Lightning. She had decided not to question their good fortune, resolving merely to work them harder. Her ankle had also healed to the point where she could walk on it unassisted, though Hope still followed her around, to her apparent irritation. Lea suspected she was at least somewhat enjoying the care, though she’d never admit to it.

            They had snuck past two giant beasts that were too busy fighting to notice them, and now stood at the entrance to a cave.

            “I’m sorry,” said Vanille. “We’re only about halfway to the tower. I don’t know if the people who are picking you up will be there when we arrive.”

            “I’m sure he’ll wait for us,” Kairi said. “Taking us on this training mission was his assignment. He wouldn’t just leave without us.” Lea nodded in assent.

            “Regardless, it’s still a long ways away,” Fang said. “And we’ll mostly be underground for this leg. The exit comes out right near the base, but we’ll be covering almost as long a distance in the tunnels. Are you sure you don’t want to–”

            She was cut off by the sound of an engine overhead. The l’Cie reacted in alarm, diving for cover, but the sound didn’t match the airships of Cocoon. Kairi stood up and waved as the familiar shape of Merlin’s Space Bus lowered out of the cloud layer.

            The wizard set the ship down and walked out to greet them. “My apologies, I seem to have misjudged the size of the world. Perspective can be a funny thing. Still, I hope your trip was productive?”

            “As a matter of fact,” Kairi said, and went on to introduce the l’Cie and explain how Lightning had been training them.

            “Ah, so I did remember correctly! Excellent!” Merlin beamed. “Thank you for your time, Sergeant Farron, and the rest of you as well.” He gave a small bow to the l’Cie. “However, I’m afraid we must be moving on. I have some tasks to attend to, and so I believe it’s time for the two of you to push on by yourselves for a bit. I’ll explain after we take off,” he added, giving the locals a side glance.

            “I suppose you’re far enough along that you can improve by yourselves,” Lightning said. “It was… nice, having the two of you as students. I’d still prefer you stay out of combat, but at least I know you won’t die on me if I take my eyes off you.”

            “That’s her way of saying she’ll miss you,” Snow grinned, throwing an arm around each of them. “Feel free to come back and visit once all this is through, all right? We’ll throw a victory party, for all of us.”

            “We would love to,” Kairi said, smiling back. Considering the circumstances, they had both really enjoyed the time they had spent with the l’Cie.

            “Good luck punching God in the face,” Lea said with a wave. The rest of the group added their own goodbyes, but as they turned to board the gummi ship, Vanille rushed forwards and wrapped her arms around Kairi from behind.

            She pressed a piece of paper into her hand. “This is for Naminé,” she whispered in Kairi’s ear. “Don’t ask how I know about her, I just do. Your secrets are safe with me, Keybearer.”

            Too shocked to question, Kairi simply agreed. They pulled apart, and as the ramp closed, they heard Fang ask, “What was that about, Vanille?”

            “Just asking her to give a message to a friend of mine from their country.”

            “How do you know someone from their country?”

            “Do you not remember them? Jeez, your memory, Fang…”

            The voices trailed away, and Kairi looked at the paper. It was a folded note with “PRIVATE” written on the outside. She mentally shrugged and decided Naminé would tell her if it was something she needed to worry about it.

            “So what’s this about running errands?” Lea asked.

            “Ah yes. Well, I have another task I’m being sent to accomplish, so the two of you are going to continue along to the next world alone. Piloting the gummi ship is rather easy, so don’t be concerned with that. You’ll be meeting another teacher in this world, who should be able to help you get to know yourselves better.”

            “Get to know ourselves better?” Kairi asked, frowning.

            “Oh yes. Your power comes from your hearts, and therefore the better you know your own heart, the better you know the extent of your strength.”

            “Makes sense, I guess,” Lea shrugged.

            “Then we’ll set off. I’ll be returning to the Tower to speak with Yen Sid and appraise him of your progress. I’ve set the navigation for the next world already, all you have to do is guide the ship in.”

            “Sounds simple enough,” Lea said. “I’ll take the wheel for a bit, Princess. You try to sleep off the timezone.”

            “Don’t crash us into any asteroids while I’m out,” Kairi warned, only mostly joking. She left the cockpit and entered the small cabin Merlin had assigned her, flopping down on the bed. She left Vanille’s note where Naminé could find it if the other girl wanted to read it while she slept. The extra hours in Gran Pulse’s days finally took their toll on her, and she drifted off.

            Naminé sat up and reached for the note as soon as Kairi was out. Her hands shook a bit as she opened it.

            It was two lines in Vanille’s handwriting.

            _You are not alone._

_The worlds are a better place with you in them._

            The time she had spent as a prisoner of Organization XIII had taught her the skill of crying without making any noise. As the lights of other worlds slid by outside the viewport over the bed, Naminé leaned against it, tears pouring down her cheeks, no sound escaping her. Eventually, she taped the note into her sketchbook, as a memento.

            At that very moment, the one thing she wanted most was different from usual.

            All she wanted was a chance to see Vanille again.

 

 

**Learned Combo+, Air Combo+, Combo Master**

**Learned Slapshot, Sliding Dash, Aerial Sweep, Strike Raid**

**Obtained Keychain: New Crystal Fable**

**Obtained Keychain: Hauteclaire**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so before you come after me with the torches and pitchforks, let me explain.  
> I wanted to include more Square Enix properties as their own worlds, but after looking through the list of their IPs, I realized I've played almost none of them. And I would have to hunt down and play the games if I wanted to write about them. Or, I could pick a game of theirs that I've played recently and also really liked the characters from.  
> I liked Final Fantasy XIII. I will never argue that it is a good game, but I liked it. It is my favourite Final Fantasy of the ones I've played. (As of this writing, I've played I, II, III, XIII, XIII-2, IV, and I'm a little ways into V. The order is due to availability; I had a copy of XIII before I had a copy of IV or V.) I'm really hoping for at least a cameo appearance from at least one of the characters in Kingdom Hearts III. Not holding my breath for an entire world, hence Gran Pulse as its own world here.  
> But Sannae, you say, Radiant Garden is THE Final Fantasy world in Kingdom Hearts! I'm aware. I have a plan. It rests heavily on the ending of Lightning Returns, which I won't spoil (yet) if you haven't seen it.  
> Also, a little aside for others who want to write Square Enix worlds in KH fanfic. Do you know what property Square Enix's publishing division owns?  
> Fullmetal Alchemist.  
> Have fun.


	5. Long Ago and Far, Far Away

            The blaring of alert klaxons jarred Kairi out of sleep. “Lea, what did you DO?” she yelled, running for the cockpit.

            “It wasn’t me!” Lea said as she sat down in the seat beside him. From the look of things, he had actually brought them through Gummi Space with ease. It was the world they were approaching that was causing the trouble.

            “The second I got close enough to see the world, the instruments started failing,” Lea explained.

            “So we’re dead in space?”

            “…No.”

            “…Are we going to crash?”

            “…Yeah, yeah I think we are.”

            Kairi felt like screaming, but instead just sighed. “Try to aim for a soft bit of ground, I guess.”

 

 

            Almost purely to be contrarian, the gummi ship missed the ground.

            It instead landed in the middle of a pond, close enough to the shore that Lea and Kairi could jump out of the ship’s top hatch and reach the ground without getting their shoes wet. The ship, unfortunately, rested almost completely submerged in disgusting-looking water.

            “Well, any landing you can walk away from, I guess?” Lea said.

            “I will admit that it could have been worse,” Kairi said. “Where are we, exactly?”

            “Dunno, some sort of swamp.” A bubble of gas cut through his sentence. “Yyyep, definitely swamp.”

            “Lovely. Merlin said we were supposed to find some sort of teacher here?” She looked around, but while the swamp was teeming with life, none of it appeared sentient.

            “That he did. Watch your step, Princess. Hard to say what’s marsh and what’s land.” Lea moved ahead of her, prodding the ground with his feet before committing to a step.

            They had been walking for almost fifteen minutes before Lea suddenly tensed up, Kairi nearly crashing into his back. “We’re being watched,” he quietly informed her.

            “Maybe it’s the teacher?” she suggested, turning to cover his back.

            “I’d _hope_ so,” he said. “Not sure I want to meet anyone else who’d hang out in this sort of place.”

            The two took cautious looks around, Kairi trusting Lea’s judgement when it came to matters of stealth; he _had_ been an assassin in a former life.

            A flash of movement caught Lea’s eye and he _almost_ reflexively tossed a Fira at it, remembering just in time that they were in the middle of a swamp. “There!” he said, pointing, as a small green creature moved out of the trees.

            It couldn’t have been more than three feet tall, if that. Batlike ears framed an elderly, wrinkled face, green eyes and what could have been a kindly smile. Tellingly, it was wearing clothes, indicating that if this wasn’t the master they were searching for, it was at least a sapient native.

            “No harm, I mean you!” the being called. “A friend, I am! Lost, are you?”

            Kairi took a second to process the syntax. “In a sense. We were sent here to find a teacher. I don’t suppose you could be the person we’re looking for?” As she talked, she could feel Lea slowly relaxing his guard down to a normal level.

            “Teacher? Teacher, me? Mistaken, you must be,” the being said with a laugh. “ _Yoda._ You seek Yoda!”

            “If this Yoda is the teacher we’re looking for, then yeah, I guess we do seek Yoda,” Lea said, slowly breaking into a grin.

            “Can you take us to him?” Kairi asked.

            “Yes, yes! To Yoda, take you, I will! Follow!” And with that, the green being took off across the swamp. Lea and Kairi met each other’s eyes and shrugged.

            “So… It’s totally him, right?” Lea asked.

            “I’m pretty sure,” she said. “Let’s humour him for now. Come on, he’s getting further away.”

 

**Long Ago and Far, Far Away**

 

            The being-who-was-probably-Yoda escorted them to a small hut that Lea had to crouch to fit inside of. When asked if Yoda would be joining them, he merely smiled, and offered them some of what he had been cooking. It looked like oatmeal. It didn’t smell like oatmeal. Kairi hoped it was oatmeal.

            Lea was never one to turn down free food, and confirmed it was oatmeal. Or at least some type of grain.

            Thus began a stalemate of sorts. The being was probably waiting for them to become impatient, and demand to see Yoda, at which point he would reveal, of course, that he was Yoda. Except that Kairi had spent years learning how to wait for things, and while Lea could be impatient he was too committed to ruining the native’s bit to run his mouth. Thus almost an hour had gone by before the being laughed softly and said, “Patience, you know of old, yes?”

            “I once waited for my friends to return for two years,” Kairi said in response. “I didn’t forget how to be patient.”

            “I’m not usually one for waiting, but I like stealing thunder even more. You are Yoda, right?” Lea said, with a smile that in other circumstances could have been mocking.

            “Mmmm, perceptive, you are. Yoda, I am,” the being said, and bowed.

            “It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Master Yoda,” said Kairi, bowing back. “I’m Kairi, of the Destiny Islands, and this is Lea, of Radiant Garden.” Lea would have bowed as well if he wasn’t already bent over to fit inside the hut.

            “Are you a Keybearer, Master?” Lea inquired.

            Yoda lifted an eyebrow. “Keybearer?”

            “A…a person who wields a Keyblade?” Lea tried again.

            “Keyblade… Long since I have heard that term, it has been,” Yoda said. “No, a Keybearer I am not. A Jedi, Knight of the Living Force, I am.”

            Lea and Kairi exchanged a glance. “Well, those sure are some proper nouns you’re using,” Lea muttered. Kairi elbowed him.

            Yoda laughed. “Unique to my world, the Jedi Order and the Force are. But similar they are, to Keybearers and the Light. Peacekeepers, once we were, guardians of the Galactic Republic. But now, engulfed the galaxy, darkness has, from Sidious, Lord of the Sith, master of the Dark Side of the Force, and Emperor. In exile, I am, and no more, the Jedi are.

            “However,” he added, “hope there still is. So wait, I do. Time, plenty I have. Perhaps, instruction I can give you, in knowing yourselves.”

            “Knowing ourselves?” Kairi asked.

            “Yes, yes! From the heart, your power comes, yes?” Yoda said. “In balance, your heart, mind, and body must be. If out of balance, any of these are, suffer, the other two will. To keep heart, mind, and body in balance, understanding your natural rhythms, the easiest way is.”

            “…Call me a skeptic, but this sounds like you want us to exercise,” Lea said.

            Yoda chuckled. “Opposed to some hard work, are you?”

            “Usually, yes, but this is for something important.”

            “What do you want us to do?” Kairi asked.

 

 

            By midday the next day she regretted asking.

            There was something of a natural obstacle course in the area around Yoda’s hut, and the old monk was making them run through it.

            For some reason, he insisted on riding on Lea’s back while they did so.

            He had also required Kairi to carry a backpack filled with the proportional equivalent to his weight in rocks, so that “Fair, it will be”.

            She was honestly starting to miss Lighting’s incessant drilling.

            Moaning from her aching muscles, she sank to the ground in a small clearing by the hut when Yoda finally called for them to stop. Lea collapsed beside her as soon as Yoda hopped off his back.

            “Mmm, now how feel you?” Yoda asked.

            “Like crap,” Lea muttered.

            “Like my shoulders are going to fall off,” Kairi added.

            “Good, good. Very aware of your bodies in this moment, you are. Now sit, breathe, and in this moment, feel yourself.”

            Lea opened his mouth, but Kairi gave him a very, very tired look, and he thought better of it. Yoda didn’t seem to have noticed. Instead, Lea leaned back, breathed, and let himself become aware of every part of his body. It was oddly calming after the strenuous exercise.

            Kairi, sitting next to him, was having a much harder time. Something Yoda had said wasn’t sitting well with her. Eventually, she gave up trying to focus on the lesson, and asked point blank instead.

            “Master Yoda? You said that if a person’s heart, mind, and body are out of balance, that means they’d be suffering, right? What happens… if someone doesn’t have a body of their own?”

            Lea’s eyes snapped open, knowing exactly why she was asking. She figured he’d be interested in the answer as well, considering Roxas and Xion were currently in that predicament.

            Just like Naminé.

            Which was why she asked.

            Yoda regarded her questioningly. “Never before, that situation I have encountered. Why this, do you ask?”

            Kairi gathered her thoughts and explained Naminé’s situation. She thought she could feel the other girl listening in, but it was probably her imagination. There was really no way for her to tell what Naminé was doing.

            When she had finished, Yoda nodded. “Speak with her, may I?” he asked.

            “Um, if she wants to speak with you, sure,” said Kairi. “She might not wa…”

            Naminé blinked as she became aware of her surroundings. Lea suddenly felt very awkward. “I’m gonna, uh, take another lap around the course,” he said, lamely.

            “The rocks, take with you,” Yoda said as he got up. Lea groaned internally but shouldered the backpack full of rocks anyway.

            As he left, Yoda turned to regard Naminé. Almost unconsciously, she had retrieved her sketchbook and was drawing. “You’re Master Yoda, right?” she said.

            “Yes. And Naminé, you are?”

            “Yes.”

            Yoda chuckled. “To meet you, good it is. Please, your story, tell me. To be here, how came you?”

            Naminé launched into a familiar story, one she’d told a couple times before, although she left out some of the bits she had confided in Vanille. As she talked, she sketched the old master. He had such an interesting face.

            Yoda nodded as she talked, confirming her story lined up with what Kairi had said. “To my teachings, have you been listening?”

            “Yes.”

            “Hmmm.” Yoda hopped off the log he was sitting on and came over to stare at Naminé’s face. She couldn’t meet his gaze. “And how feel you?”

            “I’m fine,” she said.

            “Hmmmmm. Better than I, you would know.” Yoda returned to his log. “Special training, I have, for yourself and Kairi.”

            “Special training?” Naminé wasn’t sure how to feel about that.

            “Yes. Converse with each other, you cannot? A way to fix that, I may have. Learn to share your body together, you will.”

 

 

            Kairi had returned by the time Lea finished the course, and had been informed by Yoda about the special training he had in mind. Lea was a bit surprised to hear that such a thing was possible, but he trusted that the old master knew what he was doing.

            What was drawing his attention currently was a cave he had noticed during his last run through the course. It was a short ways away from the clearing they had stopped to rest in, but that wasn’t the most notable thing about it.

            The cave practically reeked of darkness.

            Worse, he felt like something in it was calling to him.

            Before Yoda could get started with Kairi, he felt like he had to clear that up.

            “So… _what_ exactly is in that cave, spewing all that darkness?” Lea asked, eyeing the dark opening.

            “Only what you take with you,” Yoda said.

            “That’s… not at all what I was asking, but okay. Guess I’ll drop these off, then.” Lea pulled out his chakrams and dropped them by the log. He bent over and entered the cave.

            Under normal circumstances Lea would never use the word “dank” to seriously describe something, but this was the archetypal dark, dank cave. There was barely enough light to see by, and a thick mist hung in the air. His steps echoed as he walked deeper, until he saw–

            “ _Roxas?_ ”

            The blond boy stepped out from a crevice in the rock. “Lea, we figured it out! Sora found a way to get us our own bodies!”

            “That’s fantastic! But how did you get here? Kairi and I were supposed to be on a training mission.” Something felt… wrong about this. Lea was ecstatic to see his friend again, but something just wasn’t quite right.

            “I brought him here.” Lea spun around to see a figure in a black coat, blue hair shaped carefully around his shoulders.

            “Isa? How did you…” And then Lea saw the scar.

            The scar Isa didn’t have.

            The scar that Saïx did.

            His Keyblade flashed into existence as he took a stance between Saïx and Roxas. “Roxas, get back, he’s still with… Did you say you brought him here?’

            “He brought both of us.” And Xion stepped out of the shadows, too.

            “Does that… Does that mean you’re free of Xehanort, Isa?”

            Saïx began to laugh, slowly, quietly, raising in volume and speed.

            “Mmmm, no, no I wouldn’t say _that_ …”

            Lea had heard that voice only once before but it was enough to turn his blood to ice as Xehanort stepped out of the shadows behind Saïx. “No, I’m afraid your friend is still a part of me. Rather, we’re here to welcome my new vessels.”

            “What are you talking about, you old geezer?” Lea demanded, brandishing his Keyblade, still keeping himself between Xehanort and his two friends.

            “Well, since I couldn’t get my hands on Sora, why not try for the next best thing? His two _replacements_.”

            A chill ran down Lea’s spine as he slowly turned back to Roxas and Xion.

            Bright gold eyes stared back at him as the two began to laugh.

            “No…”

            “I’m afraid so,” the old man taunted. “Of course, this puts my darknesses at fourteen, when what I really need is exactly thirteen. Might as well tie up that loose end. Faithful as he’s been, I have less use for a body that cannot use the Keyblade.” And with that, Xehanort stabbed Saïx through the back.

            Lea’s mind almost shut down. Xehanort might or might not have still been speaking, but all he could hear was the pounding of his own heartbeat as Saïx crumpled and collapsed, lifeless.

            “Much better,” said Xehanort. “And again I am thirteen. As for you, I have no need of a broken vessel. I’ll be leaving the cleanup to your former friends. If there’s anything of them left, they’ll succumb much easier to my darkness after this.”

            Slowly, Lea stood straight and tall, and pointed his Keyblade at Xehanort. “You killed Saïx.”

            “Mmm, yes. Glad you have eyes.” Xehanort turned to leave.

            “You killed _Saïx_. Which means my friend _Isa_ will be waking up alive and safe in Radiant Garden as we speak.”

            The old man turned back to him. “Maybe so. But you won’t live to see him.”

            “Won’t I? I don’t recall a single time Xion has ever beaten me in a fight. Roxas did, once, but I’ve gotten stronger since then and he’s out of practice. And if they have just now become your vessels, they’ll be fighting tooth and nail to wrest control from you. You won’t be fighting just me. You’ll be fighting to stay in control of them, too. All I have to do is get away, and find my friends. If they have a way to bring that Terra guy out from your control, we can save Roxas and Xion, too.”

            “And what makes you think they’ll be willing to help you? After everything you’ve done?”

            “Help me? I wouldn’t hold my breath. But I know Sora, and I’m getting to know Kairi, and neither of them are going to stand by and leave Roxas and Xion behind. Riku and Mickey will support them, hell or high water. So I’m not betting on their good opinions of me, I’m betting on them not abandoning their friends. I think that’s a safe bet.” Lea flashed his cockiest of grins. “I won’t be fighting on my own, not anymore. Got it memorized?”

            Xehanort matched his manic grin, threw back his head, and laughed. To Lea’s confusion, he faded from view, as did the gold-eyed Roxas and Xion. Once more, he was alone in the cave.

            Lea stumbled out of the entrance, shocked and confused, and toppled over the second he could stand fully upright again.

            “Lea!” Kairi called, concerned, and rushed over to him.

            “Unharmed, he is,” said Yoda, in a contemplatory tone. “Though a difficult time, he doubtless has had. What did you see?”

            Lea pulled himself into a sitting position and fought to catch his breath. “Roxas, and Xion. They were in there with Saïx, and Xehanort, and he, he had them. He was possessing them! We have to-!”

            “Calm yourself,” Yoda said, soothingly. “A vision, it was. Safe, your friends are.”

            “But they were… I saw… He stabbed Saïx! Their eyes were gold!”

            “Your worst fears, they were. That lost again to you, your close friends would be. But overcome it, you did, yes?”

            “Y-yeah.” Lea was beginning to catch his breath. “I told the old man that no matter what he did to my friends, I – _WE_ – would always be there to bring them back.”

            “We?” Kairi asked.

            Lea looked sheepish. “Yeah, uh… You and Sora and Riku and the King and everyone else. I know that you guys wouldn’t let Roxas and Xion get claimed by the darkness. No matter how you felt about me.”

            Kairi could hear the hesitation in his voice. She placed a hand on his shoulder. “Lea, you’re our friend, too. You’re MY friend, I can say for certain. Of course I would help if you asked.” She graced him with a smile.

            He returned it, grateful. “Thanks, Kairi.”

           

 

            It had taken a few days, but Kairi was finally starting to get the hang of meditating. Lea, on the other hand, was starting to get sick of handstands.

            Insisting that he be able to enter the relaxed state even in the heat of battle, Yoda had started giving him tasks to complete while meditating. Most of them involved various contortions that made blood rush to his head. Still, he did feel more aware of his surroundings.

            Kairi and Naminé were both trying to enter the aware state simultaneously. If they succeeded, Yoda believed they would be able to both be conscious in their body at the same time. Kairi could see that being awkward, especially with Sora and Riku, but to her, being able to talk to Naminé would be worth it. She wasn’t sure how Naminé felt about it, but couldn’t imagine she’d have a problem with it.

            Naminé was quietly panicking. She was going along with the training because if she didn’t, it would lead to awkward questions, but she was terrified it would mean Kairi being able to actually see how she was feeling. Her task would become even harder than it already was.

            The dark cave weighed on Kairi’s mind. She tried to put it out of her mind and focus on the task at hand, but something about it was calling to her. There was the morbid curiosity she felt over what would appear to her, but there was also a weird sort of pull on her consciousness. She asked Naminé about it through their notebook but the other girl didn’t seem to know what she was talking about. Lea, however, did, and said it was similar to what he had been feeling before entering it.

            Yoda had had nothing to say on the subject, only repeating the advice that the only thing in the cave was what was brought into it. And so Kairi found herself standing in front of the opening.

            “Only what I take with me,” she mused to herself. She couldn’t think of anything to leave behind; she couldn’t exactly put down the Keyblade. At her request, Naminé had promised not to watch. She trusted the other girl at her word.

            She stepped into the cave, wrinkling her nose a bit at the smell. She walked deeper in until she heard the sound of two male voices, laughing and joking with one another. They sounded very familiar.

            As she rounded a bend in a cave, Sora and Riku looked up from their conversation.

            “Oh hey, Kairi, there you are!” Sora grinned.

            “We’ve been looking for you,” Riku added, also smiling.

            “What are you doing here?” she asked, confused. “Did something happen?” At the back of her head, the thought that these had to be illusions rose and was quickly banished. How could they not be real? They were right here.

            “Yeah, you could say that,” Sora said, excited. He looked at Riku. “Do you want to tell her, or..?”

            Riku’s excitement was much more understated but no less present. “We beat him, Kairi. Xehanort’s gone. We won.”

            “That’s amazing news!” she said. “But I thought we needed seven lights to stop him? Lea and I have been here…”

            “Well… We were never really going to have you fight,” Riku said, still smiling.

            “Yep! This whole mission was just to keep you safe while we did the hard work,” said Sora. “Turns out we didn’t need you after all!”

            The words struck Kairi like a heavy blow to the chest. After everything she’d been through, every promise she’d made and intended to keep, everything she’d learned, that was it? They had gone ahead and done everything without her? Again?

            They had left her behind.

            She sank to her knees in the dirt, fighting back tears.

            “Actually, there’s one other thing Sora and I wanted to talk to you about,” said Riku.

            “We kinda… don’t think we need you anymore,” Sora added.

            “What?” she asked, voice shaking.

            “Well, we’re kind of happy with just the two of us. Sorry, Kairi, but we don’t think we need you as part of our relationship.”

            The weight that had settled upon Kairi’s chest doubled in intensity. In the back of her mind, something was screaming that this was wrong, this wasn’t how things should be, this wasn’t how things _are_ , but she had to face the truth.

            They didn’t need her.

            The worlds hadn’t needed her.

            No one needed her.

            Sora and Riku faded away as the scene in the cave changed. A ruined cityscape stretched out before her, smoke billowing in the air as buildings burned down. She had the sensation of suddenly being very small and vulnerable, as monsters roamed the streets, attacking anyone they could find. Vaguely, she realized the monsters were Heartless, but she couldn’t summon the strength of will to summon her Keyblade, let alone fight.

            Maybe it would have been better if it had all ended here.

            Dimly, she heard a voice calling her name, but it was faint and indistinct, and didn’t seem important. Easier just to fade, unwanted.

            At which point her own left hand rose up and smacked her in the face hard enough to sting.

            Kairi blinked, and she was back in the cave, not the city. Her left hand was still held in midair, poised as if uncertain another strike would be necessary. She heard the voice call her name again. It was a girl’s voice, one that was slightly familiar, like she’d heard it before in a dream.

            Except that it was coming from her own throat.

            Kairi spied a pond in the cave and rushed over to it, staring at her reflection. Instead of her own face, or maybe superimposed over it, was the face of a blonde girl her own age. “Naminé?” she asked, hardly daring to believe it.

            “Kairi,” her reflection said, the sound coming from her. She could feel her mouth moving, but she wasn’t controlling it. Her left arm slowly lowered.

            “Was that you?” she asked.

            Naminé – and by extension, Kairi, too – nodded. “I could see what you were seeing, but it wasn’t real, Kairi, none of it was. I’m sorry, I didn’t know how else to snap you out of it.”

            “It’s okay… Thank you,” Kairi whispered. “We should get out of here.”

            Kairi’s head nodded again, a weird sensation when she wasn’t the one doing it. She pulled herself to her feet and walked for the entrance.

            Predictably, Yoda was waiting for them by the cave entrance. “Find, did you, what you were looking for?”

            “Well… sort of,” Kairi said.

            Naminé raised Kairi’s left hand. “Hello,” she said, a little embarrassed.

            A wide grin brightened Yoda’s face. “Both of you, well you have done. Join now you may, Lea in his balance exercises.”

            Both girls stifled a groan and set to figuring out a handstand.

 

 

            A few days later and both had progressed to a point Yoda found satisfactory. Both had mastered the meditative state while in motion, and for Kairi and Naminé, the state had come with an added bonus. When sitting and meditating normally, Kairi could enter a mental room of sorts, where Naminé would be waiting. The room was a melding of two areas, a beachfront that she recognized as the Destiny Islands, and a small room, all in white, that she realized must be Castle Oblivion. She hadn’t realized Naminé still had such ties to the place, considering what had happened to her there. The two could talk in private in this place, when they wanted to converse without sharing a voice.

            There was something odd about the way Naminé acted, Kairi thought. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but if it was something major, she believed the other girl would tell her.

            Naminé’s façade was cracking. It was so much harder to keep the truth from Kairi when her Somebody could feel the microexpressions she couldn’t hide, could watch her face as the two talked.

            It was only a matter of time before Kairi would find out how she really felt.

            And Naminé was not prepared.

 

 

            Their time in this world was drawing to a close, but there was still one problem they had to overcome.

            The Space Bus was still 80% underwater.

            “I have no idea how we’re going to get this out,” Lea said. “It’s not like we’re telekinetic or anything.”

            “How deep is the pond?” Kairi mused. “We might be able to direct a water spell.”

            Yoda raised an eyebrow. “Mastered magic yet, you have not?”

            “It’s a work in progress,” Lea said defensively.

            “Hmmm. Long ago, a Keybearer I met. Pretend to be a Jedi, he did. Magic spells, he used, to mimic the Force.” Yoda gave them a contemplative look. “Remember the incantations, I do.”

            Lea blinked. “Really? What were they?”

            Five minutes later featured Kairi and Lea taking up positions on either side of the pond. Lea would lift the ship, and Kairi would pull it to shore.

            “Ready?” Kairi called.

            “Probably not, but it’s worth a shot,” Lea replied. “ _Gravira!_ ”

            Unsteadily, the ship rose out of the pond. Before it hit the area of gravitic pull Lea had generated, Kairi raised her own Keyblade. “ _Magnera!_ ”

            The ship was yanked towards the bank, and settled gently on solid ground. Yoda laughed. “Done well, you have.”

            Kairi smiled as Lea jogged around the bank to join them. “Thank you, Master.”

            “One other thing, my Keybearing friend left. Said, did he, that others would likely follow. These, give to them, he said,” Yoda handed two small chains to Kairi and Lea.

            Lea grinned, recognizing the objects as Keychains. “Thanks, Master. How long have you been holding on to these?”

            “Hmmm, not long, not long. 200 years or so, merely.”

            Kairi and Lea exchanged shocked glances. They had figured Yoda was old, but…

            Yoda caught the looks. “For 900 years, good I look, hmmm?”

            “Uh… definitely better than we would look,” Kairi said. Yoda laughed.

            They exchanged goodbyes with the old Jedi and climbed aboard the ship. Merlin had yet to return, but he had left the coordinates for another world for them to visit.

            “This time, I’m driving,” Kairi said, giving Lea a teasing look.

            “Fine, whatever,” Lea said. “I’m gonna go take a nap. Wake me up when we get there.” He ambled back to the cabin area.

            Kairi launched the ship without difficulty, and settled back in the pilot’s chair. “Hey, Naminé?” she said out loud.

            “Yes, Kairi?” she responded.

            “Thank you for what you did in the cave. I know I thanked you already, but without you, I think… I might have actually broken down. You pulled me out of that, so thank you.”

            Naminé took a second to reply, but eventually she said, “I’d do anything to keep you safe, Kairi. You being happy and safe is important to me,” _So that at least one of us is happy_ , she didn’t add.

            The stars streaked by the cockpit, illuminating the eyes of two girls in one body, one full of hope, one almost running out of it.

 

 

**Obtained the power of stars. Learned Gravity**

**Obtained the power of miracles. Learned Magnet**

**Obtained Keychain: Awakened Force**

**Obtained Keychain: Spark of Rebellion**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Say hello to the second chapter I had completely written for this fic. This came about entirely by me realizing there was literally no reason not to do it. KLEA contains a lot of media franchises that I particularly love, and Star Wars is one of the reasons why I'm huge into science fiction. (I'm aware the franchise is closer to science fantasy. Hush.)  
> And again, I don't think there will be a Star Wars world in Kingdom Hearts. Nomura is on record saying he has no idea if Disney Interactive Studios is allowed to touch Star Wars considering Disney's contracts with EA, so any inclusion more than a tiny cameo probably won't happen. I'd be fine with Darth Vader as a hidden boss, or a lightsaber-based Keyblade as a Colosseum prize.  
> While my understanding of the Kingdom Hearts timeline is a little wonky, my Star Wars timeline (as regards the movies, I haven't been keeping up with the new EU) is on lock. This fic takes place twelve years after Revenge of the Sith, making it three years before the Rebels TV series and eight years before A New Hope. The reasoning for this placement is that it amuses me to no end to think that Anakin Skywalker fell to the Dark Side on the exact same day that Terra got bodysnatched by Xehanort.  
> The "Yoda got visited by a Keybearer" idea is one that I've had bouncing around for a while. If I ever do decide to work on it, it won't be canon to this collection of fics.


	6. The Waterfront

            “Okay this can’t be right,” Lea said. “Why are we three inches tall?”

            They had arrived in the next world, but something appeared to have happened in the process. Upon exiting the gummi ship, they found themselves at the wrong scale for the world. Or at least, they thought they were, given that the humans on the street towered over them.

            And yet, there were smaller fronts in front of every store, perfectly sized for the two of them. Every apartment had another, miniature door in the steps. There was a second, smaller world in this one, that Kairi and Lea had become perfectly sized for.

            It was evening, and they appeared to be down by a dock. There was a light on in an overturned barrel, and as they watched, tiny figures wearing clothes slipped furtively through a curtained opening.

            “Are those… mice?” Kairi asked.

            “Looked like it to me,” Lea said. “It’s not that weird, though, right? I mean, we hang out with a person-sized mouse all the time.”

            “I guess. Are we going in?”

            “Sure.”

 

**The Waterfront**

 

            They made their way over to the barrel, and poked their heads around the curtain. The inside of the barrel was opulently furnished, quite a contrast to the rough-looking mice that had gathered inside of it.

            “Are they… singing?” Lea said, confused.

            “ _Oh Ratigan, Oh Ratigan, you’re tops, and that’s that! To Ratigan, To Ratigan, To Ratigan the world’s greatest_ –”

            “STOP!” one of them called. “Bartholomew, for the last time, we can’t use that line! You _know_ it’ll upset the professor!”

            “Well, what else are we supposed to rhyme with ‘ _that’s that_ ’?” a short mouse whined. “There ain’t nothing else that fits!”

            “How about, ‘ _the only mouse to ever own a cat_ ’?” another mouse asked.

            “Pete, you’re a genius,” the first mouse said. “All right, everyone, back to rehearsal. The professor’s putting on a big party tonight, and we have to be ready by then.”

            “Oh, I’ll never remember that,” Bartholomew mumbled, fearfully.

            “Excuse us,” Lea said, walking in, Kairi following behind. “We’re new in town, do you think you could direct us to a place we could find a meal?”

            The mice (and one lizard, they noted) stared at them in shock. “Who… what… How did you get in here?” one of them demanded.

            “Like I said, we’re travelers,” Lea said. “We just walked in to the first place we saw.”

            “But this is supposed to be a –”

            “Red?” A smooth voice echoed from the back of the barrel. “Do I hear that we have guests?”

            The mice froze as a relatively-giant rat in a fancy suit walked over, exuding a disconcerting and somewhat ill-fitting air of gentry.

            “P-professor!” the mouse stammered. “They walked in here on their own, we was just about to get rid of them–”

            “Why Red, let’s not be so rude to our guests,” the rat, who must be the Ratigan they’d been singing about, said. “As long as they’ve no connection to that pipsqueak _Basil._ ” There was a dangerous glint in Ratigan’s eye.

            “I assure you we’ve got no idea who that is,” Lea said with what he hoped was a disarming grin.

            “Like he said, we’ve only just arrived in town,” Kairi added.

            “Really? Well, I suppose we can let you go on your way,” Ratigan said.

            “Boss?”

            “What can they do to us, Red? Or are you doubting my plans?” The silk in Ratigan’s voice barely concealed the steel.

            “Wh–No, Boss, never, Boss!” the mouse squeaked, obviously terrified.

            “Then it’s settled,” Ratigan said. “Be off on your way, and forget you ever saw us.”

            “Alright then,” said Lea. “You know, for a rat, you’re an okay guy.”

            There was instant silence. The crickets weren’t chirping out of horror. If a pin was dropped, it would hold itself off of the ground through sheer force of will to avoid making a sound.

            “What. Did you call me.” Ratigan asked, deadly quiet.

            “What? You’re a rat. It’s not a value judgement, it’s just what you are.”

            “Lea, maybe you should stop talking,” Kairi muttered.

            “I don’t see what the problem is. Rats are bigger, smarter, and much friendlier than mice. If anything, it’s a compliment,” Lea continued, oblivious.

            Ratigan drew in a breath, and exhaled slowly. “I was going to let you leave. But I’m afraid… you’ve gone and upset me.” He bared his teeth in a grimace that reminded Lea of that crocodile from Neverland. “Which means you’ll have to find out what happens when people upset me.”

            “What happens?” Lea started to say, until a sharp impact on the back of his head knocked him to the ground. Beside him, he saw Kairi crumple as well, and then everything went black.

 

 

            Lea groaned and shook his head. The last thing he remembered was running his mouth at Ratigan, and then something had hit him in the back of the head, then…

            “Kairi?” he asked, looking around. “You here?”

            He was at the bottom of a bottle. From where he was sitting, it looked like the top had been smashed open. He could probably climb up to it relatively easily…

            If he wasn’t tied to the bottom of it.

            Kairi, still unconscious, was also tied to the floor. She was within his reach, however, and he shook her in an attempt to wake her up.

            “C’mon, Kairi, don’t do this, I’m not losing another friend!”

            Her eyes opened, and he breathed a sigh of relief, until she spoke.

            “Axel?”

            It wasn’t Kairi’s voice.

            “Naminé?” he asked. “Is Kairi okay?”

            Tears formed in the girl’s eyes. “She’s alive, but… Axel, I don’t know how to wake her up. She won’t wake up.”

            Before Lea could process that, Ratigan appeared at the top of the bottle. “Ah, good, you’re awake. Forgive me, my usual method of dealing with pests is… swifter, but I needed to test this trap I’m setting. I fear that my setup may be too simple. You see, as my goodbye record plays, the bottle will fill with water. And then, since you are trapped on the bottom, you will slowly drown. Unfortunately I cannot stay to witness it myself, but I am sure your bodies will be most… informative. Ta ta!” With that, he swept his cape behind him and walked away.

            There was the sound of a record starting, [and a jaunty song sung in Ratigan’s voice started up.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3q4WkcPKiUg) Water started leaking out of a hose draped over the top of the bottle. Lea shook his head in exasperation, then turned to Naminé. The girl was wide-eyed and very clearly trying not to panic.

            “Right, okay. Naminé, I need you to listen to me. We’re going to be okay. We just need to get untied, then figure out a way to climb out before the bottle fills. We’ll be fine.”

            “But Kairi–”

            “Is going to be okay. She’s still with you, right? So right now, your job is to keep her safe, got it memorized?”

            “I… okay,” she said, subdued. An alarm went off in Lea’s head, but he decided to push it aside for now and focus on the immediate danger. He considered his options. There wasn’t enough room to summon his Keyblade, and if he tried to summon his chakrams he ran the risk of impaling himself. Even if the flames from the summoning might be able to burn the ropes.

            That said.

            Lea twisted his arms until he found the knot, and clenched it in his hand. Carefully, he cast Fire, holding it steady until the knot disintegrated.

            “All right, now we’re getting somewhere,” he grinned. The water was only about halfway up his shins.

            Hands free, he was able to summon his Keyblade and cut off the ties on his feet. He banished it before turning to Naminé, figuring she wouldn’t appreciate him coming towards her with a drawn weapon.

            “Can you trust me to cut you free?” he asked, and Naminé nodded, warily.

            He resummoned his Keyblade and gently cut through the ropes binding her feet and arms. She rubbed her wrists and Lea looked around for a way to climb out.

            “I don’t suppose you could climb on my shoulders…” he started, but Naminé was shaking her head.

            “There’s no need,” she said. “We just need to wait until the bottle fills. We’ll float to the top.”

            Lea scratched the back of his head. “Uh, minor problem with that. I can’t actually… swim, all that well.”

            Naminé shrugged. “Neither can I, but Sora and Riku tried to teach me, once. Kairi can, her body’s used to it. All we’ll have to do is keep our faces above water. Bodies float.”

            A little morbidly phrased, but he accepted her at her word. The water was up to his thighs, which meant it was approaching Naminé’s waist. Presumably, it would be filled by the time the song ran out.

            It took an additional minute and a half for the record to come to an end. By that point, Lea and Naminé were unsteadily bobbing in the water. They were high enough to grab hold of the water hose, and pull themselves to safety.

            “Well, we’ve managed to avoid drowning. Makes me wish I knew Aero, for a quick blow-dry,” Lea quipped, but Naminé still looked dour.

            “Can we… can we just leave?” she said.

            “Yeah. Yeah, I don’t think there’s any reason to stay. Gotta find our way out, though,” Lea replied. He doubted the mice could have carried them _that_ far from the barrel Ratigan had his headquarters in, especially if the rat wanted to check on them after they drowned. He pulled one of his gloves off and dipped his finger in the water, then held it up to the air. “Wind’s coming from this direction,” he said. “Hopefully that’s a way out.”

            “Okay,” Naminé said, and the alarmed sensation came back to Lea. There was something… wrong, he thought, about how passive she was being. It reminded him of an animal put in a bad situation for so long it had just accepted that this is what life was. He couldn’t imagine that Kairi was mistreating her, though, at least not intentionally.

            “Hey,” he said, and when she turned to look at him, he added, “Kairi’s going to be fine, I promise.”

            She murmured something, and at his quizzical expression, said louder, “I said, ‘thanks, Axel’.”

            He smiled. “Anytime.” It wasn’t the time to try to get her to call him “Lea”.  He started walking in the direction he had figured out, Naminé following behind him.

            He didn’t realize she had actually said, “ _You have no way of promising that_.”

 

 

            They were getting pretty close to the end of the tunnel they were in; from the smell Lea assumed it was a sewer. Though nothing had gotten in their way, there was a sense of something watching them, waiting to pounce. It was probably just him being paranoid, but Lea kept an eye out, just in case.

            It was good that he had.

            They reached the end of the road at a mesh grate blocking an entrance, through which they could see the street. Fortunately, there was a mouse-sized door cut into it. Unfortunately, it was locked.

            “Well, at least that isn’t a problem,” Lea said, readying his Keyblade to unlock the door.

            Which was when the cat pounced.

            A beige fluffball with a purple ribbon on its head fell out of the sky, and barely missed landing on Lea. Normally, a cat wouldn’t be a problem, but they were still the size of mice. And the cat didn’t seem to see a difference.

            Naminé drew closer to the door, frightened and unable to do anything. Lea moved to block the way between her and the cat. He waved his Keyblade at it, not really wanting to harm it, and it batted and snapped at the end.

            There was no way out. Unless…

            Lea suddenly had a wonderful, stupid idea.

            The next time the cat lunged for his Keyblade, he let her catch it in her mouth, and rooted the both of them to the spot with Gravira.

            “Naminé!” he called. “Can you get the door open?”

            She shook her head. “It’s locked. There’s nothing I can do.”

            “Okay, maybe this is a long shot, but can you summon Kairi’s Keyblade?”

            He could feel her incredulous look on the back of his neck. “ _What?_ ” she asked.

            “Can you try to summon Kairi’s Keyblade? If you can summon it, I can talk you through using it to open the door.”

            “No, no, I can’t–” There was that defeatism again, that he’d seen in her eyes. He knew exactly why she was like that, and that working through it would take time. But they didn’t have time. The harsh approach was the only way to go.

            “Naminé, listen to me. You are so much stronger than you allow yourself to be. You went through hell with Marluxia and the rest of us, with DiZ, and I’m sure you don’t exactly enjoy being stuck in Kairi. But the thing is, you went through all of that, and _made it out the other side_. You’re still here. You survived. All of that couldn’t stop you, so are you really going to let a stupid door get in your way? Please, for all three of us, please, _try_.”

            Naminé took a second to respond, and he knew she was weighing her options. Finally, she said, “What do I have to do?”

            Lea grinned. “Hold out your hand. Now, think about the people you care about, the people you want to protect. Hold them in your mind and resolve to keep them safe. Also, there’s a particular way you gotta flick your wrist…” He couldn’t look back to see if she was doing it, immobilized both by his own spell and the effort needed to keep it going.

            A flash of light from behind him and a light musical cue indicated that she had succeeded. “Nice going!” he called, turning his head with effort. “Now point the tip at the lock and…” he trailed off. Naminé was staring wide-eyed at the Keyblade in her hand, and with good reason.

            It wasn’t Kairi’s Keyblade.

            It sort of looked like Destiny’s Embrace. But where Kairi’s Keyblade was gold, this one was silver. Where hers was red, this one was blue. And where Destiny’s Embrace had a wreath of flowers forming the teeth, this one had an artist’s palette.

            “No…” Naminé whispered. “No,” she said, louder, “No, I’m not dealing with this, this is not okay, this isn’t… I can’t be a… I’m just a…”

            She drew herself up, drew a calming breath, looked Lea straight in the eye, and said, “No more. I can’t deal with this anymore. I refuse.” She flicked her wrist, and to Lea’s shock, opened a Dark Corridor.

            He hadn’t even realized she could do that.

            “Naminé, wait, don’t…!” he yelled, but the girl dashed into the dark opening, which closed behind her.

            “Shit,” he muttered. Apparently things were worse than he thought.

            But he didn’t have time to dwell on it. The cat was still trying to eat his Keyblade. He drew in a breath, then let it out, slipping into the meditative state, giving himself a moment to think.

            The answer was simple, so simple that he was surprised he hadn’t thought of it earlier. He disengaged the Gravira, and yanked the Keyblade out of the cat’s mouth. He used the momentum to leap backwards, and cast Water.

            The spray from his Keyblade hit the cat in the face, and it hissed and ran away. Lea collapsed, having exhausted himself, and fished an Ether out of his coat pocket. He honestly hadn’t thought he’d need them, but Merlin had insisted they carry them anyway. He made a mental note to thank the old wizard.

            Having steadied himself, he took stock of the situation and contemplated his next move.

            Kairi and Naminé were gone. He had no idea where.

            Naminé might be a Keybearer? Not as important at the moment.

            Naminé had run off through a Dark Corridor. Not a danger to her, since Kairi’s light would protect them both, but he couldn’t follow them.

            Not that he knew where they had gone.

            The best thing to do, he decided, was to get back to the gummi ship and return to the Mysterious Tower. He had no idea where Merlin was, so going directly to Yen Sid and explaining the problem would be better. Having so resolved himself, he unlocked the door and hurried to where they had parked the ship.

            It was gone.

            “How… how is that even possible?” he moaned. No one on this world should even know what gummi ships _were_ , let alone how to fly one. Yet, it was gone.

            “Well that’s just great,” he yelled, not caring who heard. “The girls are in trouble and I’m _stranded_. Wonderful! Great! Couldn’t be better!”

            The Keyblade in his hand pulsed. He looked at it in surprise, and almost dropped it as it pulled itself, still in his hand, to extend out in front of him.

            “Okay, what are you doing now?” he asked it.

            It responded with a bright beam of light, which shot into the air in front of him and coalesced into what a Dark Corridor would look like if it was made out of white haze instead of black. The Light Corridor beckoned, and he figured it couldn’t be all that bad, since the power to create it apparently had come from him.

            Plus, he had no other way off the world.

            “Alright,” he said, stepping into the opening. “Let’s see what’s behind door number one…”

            The aperture closed behind him, and there was no sign in the street to show anyone had been there.

 

 

            Ratigan stared at the empty bottle. “So, they cut their bonds, and climbed out when the water was high enough,” he mused. “I suppose my trap for Basil will have to be more… _complicated_.”

 

 

 

 

**Obtained Keyblade: Memory’s Embrace**

           

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Great Mouse Detective is my second favourite Disney movie, so of course I had to work it in somehow. There is a bit of hedging of my bets here, in that since they don't interact with the heroes and these events take place outside of scenes in the movie, maybe, just maybe, this would still be canon-compliant if there was a Great Mouse Detective world in KHIII. That was before I decided to go off in my own direction, of course.  
> Like Old Jungle, this chapter has a bit of exploration of something that bugged me as a kid. Here's the song they're practicing at the beginning of the chapter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UQg4zb9dsA If the link dies, the song title is "The World's Greatest Criminal Mind". It's Ratigan's villain song (the song linked in the fic itself is "Goodbye, So Soon", in case that link dies). It always bothered me, like it says in the fic, what exactly what they were expecting to rhyme with "That's that." This is my best guess. And no, I didn't make up any of the names for his gang; those are all their actual names according to the Disney wiki. And yes, that's the cat that attacks them at the end of the chapter. (a bit of character building: if Lea had known and the circumstances had been less dire, he absolutely would have shouted "Bye, Felicia" as he chased the cat off.)  
> But that's not what you're here to listen to me talk about.  
> We have arrived at the first reason why this series has been marked as "AU - Canon Divergence". The other reasons all have to do with the fact that I want to explore things that will A) almost certainly be contradicted by KHIII, and B) will wind up going into a time frame much, much past KHIII, and any other Kingdom Hearts games to follow.  
> Allow me to explain to you the reasoning why I've given Naminé a Keyblade. Roxas was able to use the Keyblade because he used to be part of Sora, who is a Keybearer. Kairi was accidentally given the potential to be a Keybearer ten years before Naminé was split off from her. Therefore, Naminé should also have the potential to be a Keybearer. If I haven't made it clear yet, in my version of events, Naminé lost her memory powers upon rejoining with Kairi, and she won't be getting them back. (nor does she want them back).  
> I fully expect canon to ignore the possibility of Keybearer Naminé, which is why I've decided to run with it instead. If this is an idea that storywise, you absolutely hate, then I hold you under no obligations to keep reading anything I write, and I hope I've been able to entertain you thus far. But if this idea intrigues you, then I'll see you next week; only I'm going to try something a little odd with the way this fic is formatted. (I'll add the full explanation to these notes when I post it.) See, there's a reason why KLEA is marked as "part one" of "Kairi and Lea's Fantastic Voyage".  
> And there's another Bill and Ted movie.  
> EDIT 4/7/18: The reason for all of this is that Naminé's story is its own separate fic! Her story continues in Naminé's Bogus Journey, posted a (two) day(s) early because I realized I only promised Monday updates for KLEA! NBJ takes place between chapter 6 and 7 of this fic, and chapter 7 will assume you have read it. We return to our regular update schedule next week.


	7. The Icky Jobs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter presupposes that you have read Naminé's Bogus Journey, which takes place mostly concurrently with this chapter.

            The Light Corridor dropped him in front of a familiar sight: a drab, beige castle with green roofs, and towers that stuck out from the side of the keep.

            “Castle Oblivion?” Lea asked his Keyblade. “Really?”

            The sword didn’t answer him. Lea crossed his arms and regarded the castle gate.

            “Why Castle Oblivion?” he mused.

            The more he thought about it, the more it made sense. Naminé came into existence here; she had spent the first part of her life here. It was still the place he most associated her with. If it was his own subconscious choosing where to go, it made sense that this would be the first stop.

            Except…

            “She must have absolutely hated it here,” he muttered. This was where she had been forced to tear apart Sora’s memories. This was where Larxene had first started calling her a witch. This was where Marluxia had used her as a tool and treated her as nothing more than that.

            This was where he himself had manipulated her to serve his own ends.

            Lea groaned. Somehow, he doubted that Naminé would have come here to escape. “Nice try, though,” he said, half to the Keyblade and half to himself. “Any more brilliant ideas?”

            As if in response, the Keyblade lifted again and generated another white portal. Lea snorted. “All right then, door number two.” He strode into the opening.

 

 

            A familiar clocktower was the first thing that met his eyes. “Twilight Town?” he murmured. He hadn’t been back here since…

            Wait. No, he _had_ been back here since trying to get Roxas back. The Mysterious Tower was in Twilight Town. This was exactly where he needed to be.

            Pity he had no idea how to get to the Tower on foot, having arrived there on a gummi ship the first time.

            But if Naminé was here, she wouldn’t have gone to the Tower, anyway.

            He made his way to the hole in the city’s wall, that led to the forest and the mansion beyond. He hesitated for only a second as he passed the store that sold ice cream. Not yet, he told himself. Not until he had Roxas and Xion back to share it with.

            The path through the forest was oddly bereft of Heartless or Nobodies, but he wasn’t complaining. The mansion’s gate had been left open and ajar. It looked like no one had been back here since the Organization fell. If he recalled correctly, Naminé had been given her own room in the place. Maybe she would have taken refuge there?

            He searched through the mansion, figuring he’d know her room when he saw it. And he did.

            The sight nearly made his blood boil.

            The room was the exact same shade of pure white as Castle Oblivion’s interior. Everything in the room, the table, the chairs, the curtains, the dressers, even the potted plants, was the sickeningly alienating white. The only splash of colour in the room were the drawings pinned to the walls.

            “That bastard,” he said, furious. “What the hell is this?”

            It appeared that DiZ had put Naminé in an approximation of the same room she had been held prisoner in in Castle Oblivion. Meaning she had probably been treated about the same.

            He had been wrong again. There was no way Naminé would have come here for solace, no more so than she would have gone back to the Castle.

            “The poor girl,” he muttered, then shook himself. Having a heart again was great and all, but stopping to pity her wasn’t going to help him find her. She’d probably be angry at him for doing it, anyway.

            So he weighed his options. Either he had to find a way to the Mysterious Tower, or he could try to continue on and find Naminé himself.

            His Keyblade started to pulse again, which he guessed was his answer. “Door number three,” he said, hoping this was going to be the last stop. The joke was about to wear thin; he could think of no game show that had more than three doors.

 

 

            Harsh sunlight met his eyes on the other side of the Corridor. He blinked, confused, and then his eyes adjusted.

            “Destiny Islands. Of course.” The third place where Naminé had spent the majority of her life, albeit from inside of Kairi.

            Would she have come here?

            He didn’t know all that much about their dynamic. Naminé did seem fairly protective of Kairi, so maybe she would have? There wasn’t much he could do besides look for them.

            Unfortunately, he didn’t actually know where Kairi lived. The last time he was here, he had met her on the beach, and hadn’t stayed all that long before chasing her to Twilight Town. It wasn’t like he could just walk around and ask if anyone had seen Kairi. His new outfit did make him look less threatening than the black coat, but it would still seem suspicious if a total stranger was looking for a teenage girl.

            He decided to simply walk around town and listen for any leads. With a beach this nice, the place had to be some sort of tourist trap. They had to have a bazaar of some kind where he wouldn’t look as out of place.

 

 

            After about an hour of wandering, he felt like he had a pretty good internal map of the streets, but no news about Kairi, or Naminé. He strode through the streets, grumbling to himself. His Keyblade hadn’t pulsed again, so he assumed there was something here he was missing.

            So intent he was on figuring out what to do that he nearly didn’t see the woman before he walked right into her. She almost dropped the bags she was holding, but he managed to catch them out of the air before they hit the ground.

            “Sorry about that,” he said, sheepishly. “I wasn’t watching where I was going.”

            The woman, who had spiky brown hair and vibrant blue eyes, cocked her head to the side and stared at him. “Are you new around here?” she asked.

            “Uh, I’m a traveler. I’m here from a long way away,” he said. It wasn’t even a lie, technically speaking.

            She shrugged. “You looked familiar to me, is all. Like I’ve seen you somewhere before.”

            Lea grinned. “Sorry, you must be thinking of someone else. Actually,” he said, something occurring to him, “I was supposed to meet a friend of mine that lives here. A girl named Kairi? I don’t suppose you know her?”

            The woman was instantly on guard. “And what exactly do you want with the Mayor’s daughter?”

            _Whoops_. “She’s a friend. She invited me here, but she wasn’t in the place she said she’d be waiting. I don’t know where she lives, so I thought I’d ask around.”

            There were now waves of suspicion coming off the woman. “When exactly did she invite you? Because she’s been on a trip for the past week or so, along with her friends. I’m starting to doubt that you really know her at all. Now, do I need to contact the authorities, or are you going to leave?”

            Well. He’d come this far. “Neither. She’s missing, and she could be in trouble, and I’m trying to find her before she gets hurt. She’s my friend, too, got it memorized?”

            The woman suddenly blinked. “‘Got it’… Is your name Lea?”

            He hadn’t been expecting that. “Yes?” he said, cautiously.

            The woman suddenly started laughing. “You’re taller than they made you sound,” she said, with a very familiar goofy grin.

            And suddenly he knew exactly who she was.

           

 

            She gazed at the redhead sitting at her kitchen table. Lea was cautiously sipping at the tea she had given him, still uncertain.

            “I’ve heard a lot about you,” she said.

            He actually winced. “Hope it wasn’t all bad,” he said, not meeting her gaze.

            “Most of it was good, actually. Roxas and Xion think the world of you.”

            That got his attention. “You’ve met them?”

            She nodded. “I helped figure out who Xion was.”

            He smiled. “Then I guess I gotta thank you. Without you I wouldn’t have been able to get two of my best friends back.”

            Something in his eyes gave her pause. “It sounds like you’re still missing someone.”

            He stiffened. “Perceptive, aren’t you.” He still wouldn’t meet her eyes.

            She sat down across from him. “Do you want to talk about them?”

            He laughed, derisively. “It’s a very long story. I’ve got no idea how much of it you already know, so…”

            “Isa, right?” He looked back at her, shocked. She shrugged. “Sora, Roxas, and Xion told me all they knew, including things about what Ventus did twelve years ago. Apparently he met two kids his own age named Isa and Lea.”

            Lea blinked. He tried not to think about that period all that much, between missing Isa and knowing any happiness in those memories was soon to be wiped away with the fall of Radiant Garden. But now that she mentioned it, he did seem to remember meeting a blond kid and getting his ass handed to him. He couldn’t quite recall the face, though.

            “…Yeah,” he said finally. “Right now, though, he’s a Nobody named Saïx. Getting him back is part of why I’m here. Even if I don’t make it.”

            Her hands tightened around her mug. “Is that… likely?” she asked, carefully, but he was pretty sure he knew what she was actually asking.

            “Look, Sora is going to be fine,” he said. “He’s got all of us looking out for him, you know?”

            “I know he does,” she said. “But my son is still going to be fighting in a war. Even if he’s prepared for it, even if he has all this support, I’ve still sent my child off to risk his life. If he wasn’t the only person who could do this, I wouldn’t have allowed it.”

            Lea shifted uncomfortably. “Look, I know given my track record, it doesn’t count for much, but as one of the adults in the situation, I’m going to do my best to keep him safe. And not just because he’s hosting two of my friends at the moment.”

            She chuckled. “At least I can’t doubt your determination. Just, don’t kidnap anyone this time, okay?”

            “One time, jeez,” he grumbled jokingly. Then sighed. “Though what a great job I’m doing of it. I should be looking for Naminé.” He had explained the situation to her, but she had still insisted he join her for tea.

            “I think she needed the time to herself,” she said. “She’s had a hard life, without much control over what happens to her. Right now, I think she needs to re-centre herself. But she’ll come back.”

            “What makes you so sure?”

            “That’s the kind of person she strikes me as. She’s just as determined as you are, in her own way. Protecting the people she cares about is very important to her. And she can’t do that if she keeps running away.”

            Lea snorted. “Maybe so, but how exactly are we going to meet back up? I’m not where she left me, and I don’t know where she went.”

            She smiled. “Oh, I think she’ll turn up.” She gestured towards the kitchen window and Lea’s mouth dropped open.

            Kairi was walking up to the back door.

            She hesitantly knocked on the door, and was just as shocked to Lea sitting at the table as he was to see her.

            “How did you get here?” she asked.

            “Keyblade did something weird, made a Light version of a Dark Corridor,” Lea said. “You?”

            “Same thing, actually. Weird.” She sat down at the table and accepted the mug of tea she was handed.

            Lea took a deep breath. “So… How’s Naminé?”

            Kairi closed her eyes, then opened them again and smiled. “I’m fine now, Lea.” He could see flashes of the blonde girl, the same way he could sort of see Roxas and Xion when he talked to them.

            “Are you sure?”

            She tilted her head and leaned back. It hit him that he had never seen her so relaxed. “Well, I definitely have some things I need to work on. But I’m not going to pretend everything is okay when it isn’t anymore. I have friends to rely on.” A single tear rolled down her cheek. She wiped it away, and smiled. “And I’m going to get my body back.” She looked Lea right in the eye, steadily holding his gaze. “I want to keep living.”

            He smiled back. “I’m glad to hear it. Anything you need, you can count on me.” Though there was another consideration. “And… about your… you know…”

            “I’d prefer the two of you keep that to yourselves for the time being,” she said. “I’m… not sure that I want to fight. I’m scared that they’ll make me if they find out.”

            “Then your secret’s safe with us,” Lea said.

            “Absolutely,” Kairi added. Lea still wasn’t used to them talking at the same time, though their voices were just slightly different enough that he could tell them apart. Kairi’s right hand moved over to her left hand and gently squeezed it. “We won’t breathe a word about it to anyone unless you want us to.”

            “Thank you,” said Naminé. “It’s…” she broke off and let out a choked noise. “It’s nice having friends.”

            Lea had the sudden impulse to give her a hug, but he wasn’t sure she’d be comfortable with it. Fortunately, Sora’s mother had no such qualms, wrapping Naminé in her arms.

            “I’m glad you’re okay,” she whispered into the girl’s ear. “You have me, too, if you need someone to talk to, okay?”

            Naminé nodded. “Thank you.”

            Lea let the scene play out, but he wondered how exactly they were supposed to get back to the training mission. Maybe through the Light Corridors, but he still wasn’t sure how to control the destination.

            There was another knock on the door. Lea got up to open it and received his second shock of the day as Merlin walked in.

            “Ah, good, you’re all right where I remember you being,” the wizard said, beaming.

            “How did you..?” Lea started, but Merlin merely waved his hand.

            “The wonders of living backwards, my boy. Now, are we all ready to get back on track?”

            “Yeah, I think we are,” Kairi said. Naminé nodded while she was talking. It was odd, but Lea supposed he’d get used to it. It wasn’t any weirder than talking to Roxas and Xion through Sora.

            “Ready when you are, but I lost track of the gummi ship at the Waterfront,” Lea said.

            “Ah yes. No worries. I picked it up,” said Merlin. “I knew you weren’t going to need it.”

            “It still would have been useful,” Lea muttered. “Less of a wild goose chase.”

            “You wound up right where you needed to be, did you not?” Merlin said, a little smugly in Lea’s opinion.

            “I think we all did,” Kairi said, squeezing her left hand again.

            As they filed out the door to where Merlin had parked the Space Bus, Sora’s mother caught Lea’s hand.

            “You know, that goes for you, too. If you need someone to talk to…”

            He smiled, grateful. “I don’t think it’ll come to that, but I appreciate the offer. See you around.”

            She nodded, and watched them leave. Lea was almost sad to go, somehow. There was a feeling he had had, sitting at that table, one that he hadn’t quite felt in a long time.

            He finally put his finger on it as the ship was taking off.

            It had felt like home.

 

 

**Obtained Keychain: Bonds of Flame**

**Obtained Keychain: Bonds of Memory**

 

**Obtained Keychain: Bonds of Destiny**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know, when I played Days back in 2009 I didn't think much about Naminé, or her room in the Twilight Town mansion. I still didn't think much about it when watching a playthrough of the Kingdom Hearts games a year or so ago (Team Four Star's Streamdom Hearts, if you're wondering).  
> But then I wrote Penpals while playing Kingdom Hearts I. And going into (Re:)Chain of Memories, I was watching closely to see if my interpretation of Naminé's character was supported by the game.  
> And boy howdy was it.  
> So I get to Kingdom Hearts II, and going through the mansion as Roxas and later as Sora, I come across Naminé's room. The pure white room that looks like it was pulled directly from Castle Oblivion itself. What kind of torture must it have been for Naminé, being "rescued" from the Organization only to be shoved right into a room deliberately designed to look like her old prison?  
> Fuck DiZ, is all I'm saying.  
> Watching the Days movie also brought out something that I had forgotten. When Naminé first brings Xion's existence to DiZ and Riku's attention, she does so stating that extracting the memories from her without harming her was possible, just time-consuming. And DiZ's reaction? "That would take too long."  
> Fuck. DiZ. Is all I'm saying.  
> I'm glad that he A) saw the error of his ways, and B) got trapped in the Realm of Darkness with most of his memories erased EXCEPT for the knowledge that he fucked over the children in his care. And that he seems very guilty for it. And I'm glad that Square wrote it themselves, which means I don't have to. I don't really like the concept of fics that exist solely to call out characters on their bullshit. That ain't me.  
> But back to actually talking about the chapter. Whoops, I gave a physical description of Sora's mother. I picture her as looking a bit like Tomo Aizawa from Tomo-chan wa onna no ko!, which is a hilarious manga you should be reading, but with longer hair the same colour as Sora's. And blue eyes. Ya gotta have blue eyes. Notice how the perspective shifts slightly so I can avoid giving her a name. I have one prepared if I have to use it, but I feel weird giving a name to a character who doesn't have one in canon. It's like speculating on the names of Luxord and Demyx's Somebodies (or Larxene's. but I will be very surprised if it isn't 'Relena'.)  
> One last bit of housekeeping: the Bonds of Flame keyblade I mention here is intended to be different from the Bond of Flame keyblade in canon. I know Japanese doesn't make the distinction between singular and plural by changing the noun, so the distinction between "Bond" and "Bonds" probably wouldn't scan, but I had a theme I wanted to run with. Also, I don't have a design in mind for any of these keyblades aside from Memory's Embrace. I'm not a very visual person; it's why I'm a writer, not an artist. So if inspiration strikes, you have my permission (for what it's worth; it's fanfic, I don't own it) to go nuts.  
> Realized one more thing I should add. As far as I'm aware, Merlin isn't mentioned as living backwards in The Sword in the Stone. But, it's a staple of Merlin as a character in other works, and since The Sword in the Stone is based on the first part of T.H. White's The Once and Future King, where if I recall correctly it is explicitly stated, I'm going with it. I don't figure on Merlin showing up much once this fic is over, anyway.


	8. The Tri-State Area

            Things on the Space Bus quickly settled into the old routine, with Merlin testing how much the two of them had grown while he had been away. He was quite impressed of their mastery of Magnet and Gravity, and congratulated Kairi on her finally learning Blizzard; she wasn’t quite sure if he could tell or not that every Blizzard spell she cast wasn’t technically coming from her, but if he did, he said nothing about it. What he did say was that the two of them were ready to start attempting third-level spells.

            A pity all their attempts were ending in failure.

            “No, not Cura, Cura _ga_ , dammit,” Kairi hissed. The bells and ivy ignored her.

            Lea smiled a bit at her frustration, but said nothing. He was having his own difficulties. While he had been able to produce Firaga with ease for years, every other element was eluding him just as much as it did Kairi. The tension in the training room was palpable by the time Merlin finally called a halt.

            “I know it doesn’t feel like it, but the two of you are making excellent progress. What I suggest you do now is take a break.”

            “Take a break?” Kairi asked, confused and a little insulted.

            “Yes. Third-level spells are difficult, and you are working very hard at it. But the more frustrated you get, the harder it will be to focus. If you don’t stop and rest for a while, you’ll hit burnout. All three of you have had a very stressful couple of days, so I suggest you take a break from magic practice in this next world. I myself have some errands to run.”

            “You aren’t gonna vanish on us and take the ship when we aren’t looking again, are you?” Lea said, mostly joking.

            “Assuredly not,” Merlin said, sharply, but there was a twinkle of humour in his eye.

           

 

            The gummi ship touched down in a parking lot in the middle of a city. Merlin handed Kairi an address scribbled on a piece of paper. “I have a friend in town who probably won’t mind you hanging out with them. I’ll be by to pick you up later. There’s a certain organization I have to speak with. No, not that one,” he said hastily at their confused looks. “An organization without a cool acronym. It’s a very long, very classified story.” This did nothing to satisfy their curiosity, but Merlin had already vanished.

            With few other options, the two proceeded to the address Merlin had given them. The city was exceedingly normal compared to what they’d been through, through there were some oddities such as a tall purple building that looked like a section of it had been shifted to the side. It also had an odd-looking dome on the top of it, but it didn’t seem all that important.

            The address led them to a simple-looking yellow house with a brown roof in a suburb.

            “2308 Maple Drive?” Lea asked, checking with Kairi again.

            “That’s what it says here. I wasn’t expecting a friend of Merlin’s to live in such an… I dunno, ordinary place?” Kairi knocked on the door.

            A voice from the backyard called, “We’re back here!” It sounded like a kid. Kairi and Lea exchanged a glance and shrugged, going over to a gate in the fence that surrounded the house.

            In the backyard were two boys and an odd-looking animal, sitting under a solitary tree. Both kids looked no older than 15 at most, probably closer to 11 or 12. One had orange hair, the other green. This wasn’t strange to either Lea or Kairi.

            “Hello,” said the orange-haired boy. “Can we help you with anything?”

            “Uh, I’m Kairi, and this is Lea,” Kairi said. Lea waved, helpfully. “We’re studying under a wizard named Merlin, and he said he had a friend living at this address?”

            “Merlin… Didn’t Mom have a friend named Merlin back in her pop star days?” the orange-haired boy asked the other. The green haired boy said nothing, but tilted his head back in thought, then nodded.

            “Well, anyway, you’re welcome to join us,” the orange-haired boy said. “I’m Phineas, and this is my brother Ferb.” Ferb continued to say nothing, but waved. “This is Perry, our pet platypus.” The walleyed animal made a chittering noise at the sound of his name. “We’re trying to figure out what we’re going to do today.”

            “Well, that’s funny, so are we,” Lea said. He hopped over the fence; Kairi gave him an exasperated, but amused look, and walked through the gate.

            “We’re training under Merlin, but we’ve kind of hit a wall,” Kairi explained. “So he sent us here to ‘relax’, I guess.”

            “Oh, so you’re having trouble figuring out what to do next?” Phineas asked.

            “That about sums it up, yep,” said Lea.

            Phineas grinned. “That’s it, then!”

            “What’s… it?” Lea asked.

            Still grinning, Phineas turned to his brother. “Ferb, I know what we’re going to do today!”

 

           

**The Tri-State Area**

 

 

            A half-hour later saw Kairi and Lea both hard at work building something under Phineas’ direction. Neither of them had any idea what it actually was, and apparently neither did Phineas.

            “Sometimes, when you don’t quite know what to do, you just have to do _something_. So, we’re building a Something. We’ll figure out what it is when it’s done. Until then, let’s just try to have fun building it.”

            To Kairi’s pleasant surprise, it was actually working. She hadn’t thought about her frustration with – _ga_ level spells the entire time. Working with her hands was feeling meditative, like the meditation exercises Yoda had had them run through, just with much less physical exertion beforehand. Lea seemed to be quietly enjoying himself, too.

            Both of their heads popped up from their task at the sound of a sliding door opening. Standing in the house’s back doorway was a teenage girl with long hair the same colour as Phineas’. She was almost definitely his sister.

            “Phineas! What are you doing?” she asked.

            “Oh hey, Candace. We’re building a Something with Kairi and Lea.” Phineas gestured to the Keybearers, who awkwardly waved.

            “Phineas, do you have any idea how old those two are?”

            Phineas shrugged. “Late teens for Kairi, early twenties for Lea, I think? I don’t think it really matters. They know one of Mom’s friends.”

            “Well, let her be the judge of that. I’m gonna tell Mom.” With that, Candace spun around and left, already pulling a cell phone out of her pocket.

            “Is that going to be okay?” Kairi asked. “Maybe we should leave?”

            “Nah, she’s usually like that,” Phineas said, then frowned as something occurred to him. “Hey, where’s Perry?” The platypus had vanished, but Phineas seemed more mildly curious than concerned. Ferb shrugged, and continued building.

            “Should we stop and look for him?” Kairi asked.

            “Nah, he’s just a platypus,” said Phineas. “They don’t do much.”

 

**[Doo bee doo bee DOO bah...](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16056437) **

 

            Whatever the Something was, it was getting bigger. A very confused Lea was currently receiving a shipment of lumber from a man in a truck. Phineas had seen nothing strange about this.

            “Aren’t you a little young to have contacts in a materials distribution network?” Lea asked him.

            Phineas thought for a second. “Yes. Yes we are.” And that, apparently, was the end of that. It still barely qualified among the weird things Lea had seen just on this journey alone, never mind the ten years spent without a heart and the events that had led to that.

            Lea climbed up to the top of the Something with an armful of lumber, joining Kairi hammering boards together.

            “Whatever it is, it’s really coming together, eh?” he asked. Kairi paused in her hammering and stretched.

            The Something was now towering over the boys’ house. It seemed almost like an enclosure of some kind, but neither of them had any idea what it was supposed to be as of yet. Kairi and Lea had practically insisted on doing the high-up work, knowing that they could survive a fall from that height whereas the two boys might not be able to. Phineas hadn’t seemed very concerned, but had let them anyway.

            “Well, it’s not coming apart,” Kairi said, drily. She and Lea shared a smirk. After everything they had been through, they were finally starting to enjoy each other’s company.

            Down in the yard, some other kids had come through the gate. One of them, a girl with black hair in a pink dress, narrowed her eyes as she spotted Kairi. They couldn’t hear what she was saying to Phineas, but Kairi was pretty sure she could guess.

            “I think the girl has a crush on Phineas,” she said, gesturing towards the kids.

            “Is that why she keeps giving you dirty looks?” Lea asked. “Maybe you should tell her you’re taken.”

            “If it comes to that,” Kairi said.

            Lea sat back on the platform they were perched on. “How did that happen, anyway? I’m not passing judgement or anything, but I’ve never seen a relationship work like that before. Insofar as I’ve ever seen a relationship, mind.”

            Kairi chuckled, thinking about her boys. “It just wouldn’t have felt right any other way. The three of us together is how it was always meant to be. When we were young, Riku and Sora used to fight over me, trying to show each other up. But, when we were even younger, Riku and I used to fight the same way over Sora. And Sora and I, well, we never _fought_ over Riku, but I guess there was this unspoken agreement that we’d share him. Of course, then we hit puberty, and then Ansem and Xemnas happened, and things got confused. Afterwards, we all took a look at our relationship, and realized there was no reason any of us had to pick. As long as we were together, we’d be okay.”

            Lea grinned. “Aw, that’s mushy as hell.”

            “Shut up,” Kairi said, but grinned back at him. “What about you? I’m guessing your relationship with Roxas and Xion wasn’t… like that?”

            “No, not exactly. Bear in mind that I’m about ten years older than them, even if you’re going by their mental ages; ‘cause remember, they’re literally two years old. That’d be kind of weird.”

            “A little bit weird, yeah,” Kairi said. “So you don’t really have someone like that in your life?”

            Lea glanced at her and snorted. “I mean, I only just got my heart back. I’m good, but I’m not _that_ good.”

            “And no one before that?” Kairi asked, innocently. Lea met her eyes and she held his gaze. She knew exactly what she was asking. Lea broke eye contact and sighed.

            “As Axel, no one. Kinda hard to have feelings for someone when you don’t have feelings.”

            “You know that’s not what I meant.”

            “I never dated anyone before Axel, either.”

            “‘Never dated’?” Kairi pressed.

            Lea sighed again. “I… You know I want to get Isa back, right?”

            “Yeah?”

            “He was my best friend for years before… before. I was young and full of myself and, you know, pubescent. I kinda took his friendship for granted, and didn’t think too closely about how I was feeling. And by the time I was mature enough to actually take inventory of my feelings, I didn’t have feelings anymore. And so much has happened since then. I’m different, he’s possessed by an insane old man; I want my friend back. I’m not hoping for anything more than that. So, the real answer to your question, Kairi, is I don’t know.”

            Kairi put a comforting hand on his shoulder. “It’s okay not to know.”

            Lea looked at her and stuck out his tongue. “I mean about Isa in particular. Definitely not interested in women. No offense.”

            Kairi snorted. “None taken, jerk.”

            “I like girls,” Naminé said, startling them both. “I’m, uh, sorry if that makes it awkward for you, Kairi,” she added, sheepishly.

            “No, not a bit,” Kairi said, smiling. “Glad you feel comfortable enough to tell me.” Something occurred to her. “So… Vanille, huh?” she asked her Nobody, smile becoming a smirk.

            “What about Vanille?” Lea asked, confused, as Kairi felt her own cheeks start to burn with embarrassment. It was an odd sensation when it wasn’t her own embarrassment. Lea looked at them quizzically, then put the pieces together. “Oh!” he said, and chuckled.

            “Guess we have another stop to make besides Arendelle when we get you your body back, huh?” Kairi said, lightly teasing.

            “…I actually don’t know if she’ll still be around. Her brand was much further along than everyone else’s. Even if she avoids becoming a monster, I don’t think I’ll have 700 years to wait for her to come out of stasis,” Naminé said, subdued.

            “Hey,” Lea said, clapping her on the shoulder. “Love finds a way, okay? Don’t let go of hope until you know what’s going to happen. And even then, smile on the way down.”

            Naminé smiled at him. “Thanks, Lea.”

            Off in the distance, there was the sound of a muffled explosion, and a hunk of burning machinery soared across the sky, dragging a man with messy brown hair and a painful-looking hunch. If you were listening carefully, you might be able to hear the man scream. “CURSE YOU, MERLIN THE WIZARD AND PERRY THE PLA- wait, are those Square Enix characters?”

 

           

            “I think we’re about done,” Phineas said with a smile. Kairi guessed they should take his word for it, though she still had no idea what the Something was supposed to be. She met Lea’s eyes and he shrugged, evidently not knowing it either. She retreated into her and Naminé’s shared mental space to ask if she had any idea, but the blonde girl shook her head.

            Back outside her head, one of the other kids – Buford, she thought his name was – folded his arms. “Okay, but what’s it supposed to be?” he asked.

            “Not sure,” Phineas said. The Something now towered far over the house, and featured a large gate on the face. Several pylons branched off from the main trunk, but there didn’t look to be any clearly identifiable purpose to the structure. “I guess we can spend the rest of the day figuring it out?”

            “Are you sure, Phineas?” the girl, Isabella, asked. “Usually we spend the other half of the day building something completely different.”

            “Hello the backyard! Anyone there?”

            Kairi and Lea both spun around at the familiar voice. Merlin stepped through the gate, a small animal clutched in his arms.

            “This is the Flynn-Fletcher residence, is it not? I believe I’ve found someone who belongs to you.” Merlin held out the animal.

            “Oh, there you are, Perry!” Phineas grinned. “Thanks for bringing him back, mister.” The platypus chittered again.

            “My name is Merlin, my boy. And I can tell just by looking that you must be Linda’s son. Pleased to meet you.” Merlin said, with a short bow.

            “How’d your errands go?” Lea asked.

            “Just fine, my boy, just fine,” Merlin said. “Now, what is this structure you’ve built here?”

            “Actually, do you suppose you could tell us?” Kairi asked. “We weren’t trying to build anything in particular.”

            “Hmmm…” Merlin went over to inspect the Something. After a couple of minutes, he returned. “It seems to me like you’ve constructed a device for the catching of lions in the Scottish Highlands.”

            “But Mister Merlin,” said another of the kids, named Baljeet, “there _aren’t_ any lions in the Scottish Highlands.”

            “Well, then this is no MacGuffin,” said Ferb, surprising Lea and Kairi who hadn’t realized he even _could_ talk. Everyone else laughed.

            “It’s a shame, though,” Phineas said. “We can’t really use it, so we’ll kind of have to tear it down. After all that work, too.”

            “Oh, I can take it off your hands, my dear boy,” Merlin said. “With your permission, of course?”

            Phineas grinned. “Sure. Go right ahead.”

            Merlin set the bag he was carrying on the ground and opened it. With a wave of his walking staff, the Something rose into the air and flowed into the bag, shrinking as it went.

            “Awesome,” said Buford.

            “Confusing,” said Baljeet. “I don’t understand how he could possibly have–”

            He was interrupted by the sound of the back door opening. “No, Candace, I’m home now, you must have just missed me,” said the opener, a woman with the same red hair as Candace and Phineas, obviously their mother. She was talking on a cell phone in her hand. “Candace, please slow down, I don’t even know what a ‘Square Enix’ _is_. Hi, kids,” she said, looking up. She then spotted Merlin and her eyes lit up. “Candace, there’s an old friend at the house, I’ll have to call you back.”

            “Linda, so nice to see you,” Merlin said with a huge smile, clasping her hand in greeting.

            “It’s wonderful to see you, too, Merle,” Linda said. Lea and Kairi caught each other’s eye and stifled a laugh. “What brings you here?”

            “Well, I had some business in town, and I thought I’d stop by and catch up. This is Kairi, and Lea, my students.” He waved at the two in introduction. Both of them waved back.

            “They hung out with us today, Mom,” Phineas said.

            “That’s wonderful, Phineas. Did you have a good time?”

            Phineas grinned. “We always do.”

 

 

            They stayed at the Flynn-Fletcher house long enough to meet Linda’s husband Lawrence, then bid goodbye to the family and their neighbors and headed back to the ship.

            “Know that if you ever tell anyone that Linda calls me ‘Merle’ I will transform you into a toad for the day,” Merlin said, just grumpily enough that they could tell he was serious.

            “Secret’s safe with us, oh noble wizard,” Lea said, smirking.

            “Wouldn’t dream of saying a word,” Kairi assured him.

            Naminé said absolutely nothing, and Kairi could feel her lips turning upwards in a mischievous smirk to rival Lea’s the second Merlin’s back was turned. She shook her head, chuckling.

            “Regardless, I hope the two of you are feeling rested and ready to give third-level spells another shot,” Merlin continued.

            “Ready and raring,” Lea said.

            “Let’s get down to business,” Kairi added. They both summoned their Keyblades and got to work as the Space Bus soared back into Gummi Space.

 

 

**Obtained Magic Element. All spells upgraded**

**Obtained Keychain: Seize the Day**

**Obtained Keychain: Best Day Ever**

**Obtained Keychain: Showering Monkey**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Theeeere's 104 days of summer vacation, and school comes along just to end it/So the annual problem for our generation, is finding a good way to spend it...  
> Kingdom Hearts needs more Disney animated shows, not just the movies.  
> And I know what you're thinking. Sannae, why Phineas and Ferb, instead of [insert other popular Disney TV show here]? The answer comes down to two reasons. First, I need to have seen the show in question at all. Which puts out Recess, The Proud Family, the entirety of the Disney Afternoon bloc (Goof Troop, Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers, Tailspin, Duck Tales, Gargoyles(sorry), etc.), and a fair bit of other shows. Second, I need to have seen enough of the show in question to be able to essentially write an original episode of it. So while I love them both dearly, Kim Possible and American Dragon: Jake Long were both out. The only show that fit all this criteria, and which I've seen scores of episodes of, enough to remember the format and the running gags, was Phineas and Ferb. Itwasagoodshow!  
> I actually didn't find out until doing wiki dives while writing this chapter that the show had ended, since I was at college/had no TV when it happened. Seems to have gone out on a high note, though, which is nice.  
> I would also like to apologize if the discussions of relationships seem to come out of nowhere. I've reread this so many times I've become essentially blind to how it flows, and I don't actually have an editor other than myself. Which is why I'll occasionally edit things I write for typos a couple hours after they've been up. Said discussions are something that I believe needed to happen, but they were kind of the "big thing" I wanted to accomplish with this chapter, aside from cramming as many jokes in as would fit. So of course I'm a little wary of if I did a good job or not. ^^;  
> One other thing. I don't have it written out yet, but is there any interest in seeing Merlin and Perry's side of this story? The Perry half of each episode was always my favourite part of Phineas and Ferb, and I'm a little bummed I didn't get to write for Doofenshmirtz aside from the one gag. (Even if there isn't interest, I might do it anyway. Just for fun. Either way it won't be canon to KHΨ.)


	9. Nottinghamshire

            There was something of an extra bounce in Merlin’s step as they approached the next world. To their surprise, he announced that he would be joining them on this particular trip.

            “This world that we’re approaching is very similar to my own. I haven’t been able to go home for, well, quite some time, so this is the closest I can come to seeing my world again. It’s a very dear place to me, and I have a close friend I want to check in with,” he explained.

            The world in question contained a large forest near a medieval-looking castle town. Merlin led the way to a small church in the outskirts, frowning all the while.

            “Something eating you, teach?” Lea asked.

            “It feels like something’s wrong around here,” Merlin said. “There should be many more people out and about in the middle of the day. And I’ve never seen the weather be this overcast. Hopefully Tuck will have some answers for me.”

            They reached the door of the church and Merlin knocked. After several minutes with no response, he huffed in annoyance, and pushed on the door.

            “Locked?” he muttered, half to himself. “It’s Sunday. That’s ridiculous. Tuck’s door is always open, metaphorically and literally. Well,” he added, shrugging, “might as well try the back. Perhaps it’s open.”

            He made to walk around the outside of the church when Lea cleared his throat and gestured with his summoned Keyblade at the door. “Oh, yes, of course. How silly of me,” Merlin said. “Useful things, aren’t they.”

            They entered the building, Merlin calling out his friend’s name. They were greeted by silence.

            “How very odd,” Merlin muttered. The group moved through the church, checking for any signs of life. But…

            “Nothing,” Kairi reported. “Not even a mouse.”

            Merlin snapped his fingers in a sudden realization. “The sexton and his wife! They aren’t here either!” He dropped to his knees and moved over to a hole in the church’s wall. “They’re church mice,” he offered as an explanation at Kairi and Lea’s confused looks.

            “…So I’m guessing your friend the Friar isn’t a human either?” Lea started to say, when the church door slammed open.

            In strode a portly wolf walking on its hind legs, wearing a red tunic that was barely held up by a sword belt. A golden star glinted not on his breast, but further down towards his stomach.

            “And what exactly do we have here?” the wolf asked, oozing obviously-fake pleasantness.

            “Ah, local law enforcement, excellent,” Merlin said, straightening up. “My name is Merlin, and these are my students Lea and Kairi.” The two Keybearers each gave a half-hearted wave. Apparently the anthropomorphic wolf was normal in this setting. Which begged the question of why their bodies hadn’t changed to blend in to the world, but that was a question for another time. “Perhaps you’d know why Friar Tuck seems to have vanished from his church?”

            The wolf, or rather, the Sheriff, smirked. “Well, unfortunately it seems the good friar was unable to pay his taxes. And so, like everyone here in Nottingham that can’t pay, he’s been taken to jail until such time as he is able to. And of course, he’s also serving for assaulting the tax collection officer.”

            “Is making a church pay taxes even legal in this world?” Lea asked Kairi in a stage whisper. The Sheriff heard, as he was intended to.

            “If Prince John says it’s legal, it’s legal,” he sneered. “Comes with ruling the country.”

            “Ruling the country?” Merlin asked, surprised. “What happened to King Richard?”

            “Off fighting a pointless battle in the Holy Land,” the Sheriff said. “And until such time as he returns, his brother Prince John is in charge.”

            “I’m guessing that’s closer to an ‘if’ he returns,” Kairi said, tone cold. The three travellers were starting to piece together what had happened to the world since Merlin had been here last, and none of them were pleased.

            “Well, it does no good to speculate,” the Sheriff said. “Two things are certain in this world, and I’m afraid I don’t recall the three of you paying any taxes as of yet.”

            “Are you serious?” Lea muttered. “We’re not even from around here.”

            “Ah, so that’d be immigration tax.”

            “And we aren’t planning on staying,” Kairi added.

            “Tourism tax, then.”

            “Now see here,” Merlin said. “I’ve been a citizen of Britain since before you were alive. Never in its history has money been charged for a simple visit!”

            “Oh ho, and yet I don’t recall seeing you at the collection booth, oldtimer. Been dodging payments, eh?” The Sheriff spread his lips in a smile that was predatory in more ways than one.

            Merlin’s eyes narrowed. “Good sir, you are being purposefully obstinate. We are not going to be paying you any money for any ridiculous reason you cook up. If that is all, we’ll be leaving.” He moved to walk out the door, motioning Kairi and Lea to follow him.

            The Sheriff blocked the way. “Not so fast, old man. See, if you aren’t going to be paying your taxes to the Prince, I’m afraid I’ll have to take you to his dungeons. On the bright side, I have a chance to test our new… recruits.” He snapped his fingers.

            Six black vortexes swirled in the air, gradually forming into six figures that barely came up to Kairi’s waist. Humanoid, and outfitted in blue, all wore silver helmets, and all bore a red emblem on their chests. Gold, pupil-less eyes stared out at them from the depths of their helmets.

            “Heartless,” Kairi whispered in shock, and instinctually summoned her Keyblade. Lea did the same, and both jumped between Merlin and the beings of Darkness.

            The Sheriff had disappeared by the time they had dispatched the Heartless, the original six summoning more as they had fallen. Presumably, he was summoning non-Heartless reinforcements, so the trio decided to beat a hasty retreat towards the forest surrounding the town. Merlin revealed that its name was Sherwood.

            As they reached the tree line, Lea looked back at the town and shook his head. “Some welcoming committee,” he muttered.

 

 

**Nottinghamshire**

 

 

            They pressed on through the forest, following a trail that only Merlin could see.

            “Why would there be Heartless here?” Kairi asked.

            “I’m not sure,” Merlin replied. “I didn’t know this world had been tainted with Darkness, although it would explain the changes since I was here last.”

            “I know why they’re here,” Lea said, seriously. “A couple years back, the Organization sent Roxas to Neverland to investigate Heartless sightings. They were all congregating around Hook, the pirate. Turns out his greed and obsession over this treasure of his was growing into a giant Heartless, and it was calling to the lesser ones.”

            “So your guess is that this Prince John’s greed is doing the same thing?” Kairi asked.

            Lea nodded. “Yep. It makes sense to me.”

            “If so, then it’s good that we arrived when we did,” Merlin said. “I didn’t want to throw the two of you into the line of fire, but–”

            “But this is exactly what we’ve been training for,” Kairi finished, with a determined smile on her face. “We can do this.”

            “Hang on,” Lea said, pausing in front of a tree. “I thought you could remember the future. Didn’t you know that this would–?”

            He was cut off by an arrow imbedding itself in the tree’s trunk not five inches from his face.

            “I’ve not seen you in this forest before, friends. And with today’s tidings, I’m afraid we’re not much in the mood for a friendly chat. Your options are to return the way you came, or surrender to Robin Hood.” The speaker was a fox wearing a green outfit and pointing a longbow at the group, another arrow already notched on the string. A much larger bear in a similar outfit held a smaller bow, also aimed towards them.

            “Robin Hood?” Merlin asked, confused. “Have I seen you before? You look familiar.”

            “It’s probably from all the wanted posters, eh Rob?” the bear jeered.

            “Yes, I must admit it’s hard being famous in our line of work. But we make do,” said the fox.

            Merlin snapped his fingers. “That’s it!”

            “What’s it?” Kairi asked, quietly, wary of the weapons pointed towards them. Both she and Lea hadn’t moved so much as an inch since the arrow had hit the tree.

            “You’re Robert, Earl of Locksley!” Merlin said.

            The fox and bear looked at one another in surprise. “Earl? I haven’t been an Earl in quite some time, friend,” the fox said. “And now I’m doubly curious. Just who exactly are you?”

            Merlin drew himself up. “I am Merlin.”

            The bear leaned over to the fox. “Does that mean anything to you, Rob?”

            “Sad to say it does not, Johnny.”

            “Oh for… I’m Friar Tuck’s friend. I’ve been away for the past seven years or so,” Merlin said, crossly.

            A flash of recognition shone in the fox’s eyes. “Merlin, you said? I believe I met a Merlin once. Although, he looked much less like a shaved ape.”

            “Yes, well, my appearance is neither here nor there. We’ve just come from Nottingham. What has happened to the Friar?”

            The fox’s and bear’s faces both soured. “That no-good Sheriff and Prince are going to hang him at dawn tomorrow,” the bear said.

            “Hang Friar Tuck?!” Merlin exclaimed. “Whyever for?”

            “As a trap, to capture me,” the fox explained. “We’ve been, shall we say, borrowing the money he’s been taking for taxes and redistributing it to those in need.”

            “And his royal highness isn’t too pleased about it,” the bear added.

            “That’s all very well and good,” Lea broke in, “but we’re kind of on the run from the Sheriff’s Heartless, and standing in the middle of the woods is making me antsy. Is there somewhere safer we could go to catch up?”

            The fox smiled ruefully. “Oh yes, of course. Come to our camp. We’ll do introductions on the way.”

 

 

            The fox’s name, as he had said earlier, was Robin Hood; since the king of this world, Richard, had left to fight in something called the Crusades, Robin and his compatriots had been stealing the tax money collected by the regent Prince John and giving it back to the needy townsfolk.

            The bear’s name was Little John. At Lea’s raised eyebrow, Robin had laughed and explained it was a nickname. “His true name is John Little. So, we reversed it, since he is anything but.”

            The clearing where they had made their camp was small, but comfortable. As they settled in and Kairi, Lea, and Merlin were brought up to speed on the world’s woes, the wizard crossed his arms and nodded, determined.

            “This cannot be allowed to happen. If there is anything I can do to assist with your plan to rescue him, please let me know.”

            “How’d you know we were planning on rescuing him?” Little John asked.

            Merlin smiled. “It’s the only honourable thing to do. Now how can I help?”

            The preparations took most of the day, including Lea and Kairi memorizing a drawing of the castle’s layout provided by Merlin. Though they threw themselves into their assigned tasks, something wasn’t sitting well with Kairi.

            “Are we… can we actually do this?” she asked Lea when they had a moment to themselves.

            Lea scratched his neck. “Are you asking if I think we’re capable, or..?”

            “No, I don’t doubt that we _can_ do this, I’m more asking if we _should_. Destroying Heartless is part of the job we’re here to do, but joining an insurrection against the rightful ruler, even if he’s a horrible person? Is that really allowed? How do we justify it?”

            Lea sat back in thought, but didn’t have an answer for her. It wasn’t the kind of question he had really thought about before.

            “We bring light with us wherever we go,” came a voice from Kairi’s throat. She blinked in surprise as Naminé continued. “The people of this world are rapidly losing hope to the darkness. Restoring that hope, giving them a chance, fighting to turn back the tide of darkness… That’s what we do, as Keybearers.

            “If we don’t stand up for what’s right in circumstances like these, what right do we have to these powers?”

            Lea grinned. “‘With great power comes great responsibility’, eh? Think I read that somewhere once.”

            Kairi felt Naminé flush. “W-well, it’s not like it isn’t true.”

            She smiled in response. “You’re right. This is exactly what we do, isn’t it.”

            Naminé reached out with her left hand and placed it over Kairi’s right. “You can, and should, do this. I believe in you. Both of you,” she added with a chuckle at Lea’s over-exaggerated expression of hurt at not being included.

            Confidence restored, Kairi threw herself into the planning. Robin was insistent that this rescue effort also include the other townsfolk that had been arrested for not having enough money to pay their taxes. This meant that they would also need to secure the keys for the general prison; or they would have, if not for the Keybearers.

            “Out of curiosity, Rob, what were you planning on doing if we didn’t meet these people?” Little John asked.

            “Oh, I don’t know, Johnny. Probably dress myself up as one of the Sheriff’s henchmen, sing him to sleep with a lovely lullaby, undo his belt and steal the keys while he dozes off. Would have been simple, really,” Robin said, laughing.

            Little John shook his head. “As you can see, we’re glad you’re here,” he said to Lea and Kairi. Merlin had introduced them as master lockpickers to maintain the secret of Keyblades.

            There was also the question of the tax money. Merlin was sure it would be kept in the vault, but Robin disagreed.

            “It’ll be in the Prince’s bedchamber, I’m sure of it,” he said. “PJ wouldn’t want it out of his sight, even when he’s asleep.”

            “That’ll be the top of the tower!” Merlin argued. “How are you possibly going to get to it?”

            Robin grinned. “Oh, I have a way.”

 

 

            In the early hours of the morning, before the sunrise, four figures approached Nottingham Castle; Merlin had stayed behind, not being much help in a fight. The castle’s portcullis was open, for what did they have to fear? Fortunately, the only guards were two vultures that Robin and John seemed to recognize, and were easily avoided. The Sheriff himself was dozing on a chair near the front of the prison. Though the air had the foul stench of darkness, there were no Heartless in the area that they could see; fortunate, as there really wasn’t a way for Lea and Kairi to destroy them quietly.

            Two towers dominated the castle, one the prison and one the keep. The Keybearers unlocked the door to the prison tower as Little John located a large cart and brought it to the entrance. With a thankful nod, Robin snuck away up to the other tower to slip into Prince John’s bedroom.

            Little John and the Keybearers climbed the prison tower, making shushing noises to the prisoners, including a badger Little John pointed out as Friar Tuck. The imprisoned townsfolk were ecstatic to see John, if not the strange ape-creatures. They quickly decided they liked the humans once Kairi and Lea started unlocking their chains. As they mobilized the townsfolk to escape, Little John reached the top of the tower. An arrow trailing a rope lodged itself into the woodwork by his head; Robin had reached the balcony of Prince John’s chamber. Little John looped the rope around a pole in the room and sent the arrow back, forming a makeshift clothesline. Robin began attaching bags of gold coins to the rope and sending them over to the tower, unnoticed by any of the guards in the courtyard below. If all went according to plan, the townsfolk would make their escape with the bags of their wrongfully-taken money and no one would be the wiser until dawn.

            If things went according to plan.

            The plan didn’t include Prince John’s advisor, Sir Hiss, a snake that apparently shared a bedroom with the prince, waking up and spotting the moving string of gold. Hiss seized a bag in his mouth as it moved along and wrapped his tail around the sleeping prince’s leg. The bag tore, money raining down on the heads of the guards in the courtyard, as Prince John’s bed was dragged straight out of the room. The Prince received a rude awakening dangling over his own balcony as Robin climbed along the rope to the prison. He screamed for his guards as he struggled back onto the tower.

            “Time to go to work,” Lea muttered as he and Kairi spotted the telltale swirling voids of Heartless being summoned. He tapped Little John on the shoulder.

            “We’ll hold off the monsters, can you get these people to safety?”

            Little John nodded with a smile. “Can and will. Catch you in Sherwood!”

            The Keybearers ran out into the courtyard to catch the first wave of Shadows and Soldiers. The townsfolk streamed out of the prison, clutching bags of gold and making a break for the cart Little John had set up. The normal, native-to-the-world guards chased them, but Robin and Little John were able to defend them, and they reached the cart without incident.

            Kairi panted as what had to be the fifteenth Shadow burst into wisps of smoke. It wasn’t a difficult task, in and of itself, but after a while it became tedious. She was glad to have Lea by her side. “Is that all of them?” she asked.

            Lea was also panting. “Looks like it,” he said, pulling out a Potion and tossing it to her before downing one of his own. “We did a good job, eh?”

            Kairi grinned in response, but before she could say anything, the Sheriff popped up. Somehow, he had had his clothes stolen, but he wore his long johns with the same amount of confidence as his uniform. “Not enough? Looks like we need the big crossbows,” he sneered, and snapped his fingers.

            The black smoke swirled again, and a figure materialized in the courtyard. It was twice Lea’s height, and cloaked in an ugly brown and black armour. It bore a massive greatsword, and had the head and tail of a horse. The Heartless emblem was emblazoned on its chest.

            “Oh, great. One of these. Didn’t miss this at _all_ ,” Lea said, as he and Kairi readied themselves.

**Defeat Darkbourne!**

            They both leaped as the Darkbourne made a wild swipe at their legs. Kairi, with Naminé’s help, fired a blast of ice at its core, hoping to freeze it solid. The Heartless staggered back, but didn’t fall, instead letting out a loud roar. Its greatsword shifted into a bow, and a rain of arrows soared out of the sky. Lea narrowly avoided getting hit before flinging his Keyblade in a Strike Raid, hitting the Darkbourne in the jaw. The greatsword came back out again and both jumped over another strike.

            “Do we have any plan other than ‘hit it really hard’?” Kairi yelled.

            “Hey, don’t knock that plan. That’s a great plan,” Lea retorted, dodging another swipe.

            “I’m more concerned about it not being a _quick_ plan,” Kairi said, vaulting over a third.

            Out of the corner of Lea’s eye, he could see the cart filling up as Little John ran to the front to pull it. The townspeople were almost out. “How’s about this: you two freeze one side, and I’ll heat the other side!”

            “Worth a try!”

            Both dodged through another swarm of arrows, and took up positions on either side of the Darkbourne. Kairi (Naminé) readied a Blizzaga while Lea prepared a Firaga. They both launched their spells at the same time, catching the Darkbourne in the middle.

            The Heartless shrieked, and flailed, not able to contend with being simultaneously superheated and supercooled. Time seemed to slow down for a second as it pitched, reeled, and fell over, turning into smoke just before hitting the ground.

            A broad grin made its way over Kairi’s face, but there was no time for celebrating. They ran to the cart, knocking over the non-Heartless soldiers as they went, jumping aboard just as Little John pulled away.

            “This ain’t no hayride, let’s move it out of here!” the bear called, pulling with all his strength.

            “On to Sherwood Forest!” Friar Tuck added, pushing from behind.

            “Stop!” a rabbit in glasses yelled. “My baby!”

            They looked back, and could see a rabbit kit clutching a doll still running inside the castle walls, begging them to wait. Before either of them could do anything, Robin raced back into the castle and scooped up the child, but couldn’t make it back to the gate before the portcullis came sailing down, trapping them.

            Little John, Lea, and Kairi raced to the gate, but there was nothing they could do.

            “It’s gravity, not a lock. We don’t have the time to do anything fancy,” Lea said, rapping his Keyblade against the gate. The guards were fast approaching.

            Robin handed the kit to Little John through the gate. “Keep going, don’t worry about me!” he said, and raced up the gate as a line of rhinos with spears crashed into it.

            “You heard him, let’s move out!” Little John said, and the three of them rushed back to the cart. The kit was handed back to her thankful mother, and they escorted what seemed like the whole town of Nottingham back to the forest before John, Kairi, and Lea doubled back to the castle, followed by another kit in a green hat.

            They arrived to see the castle’s tower in flames, and the figure of Robin clutching a flagpole on the roof as the flames rose higher. They could hear Prince John screaming for his archers to shoot him.

            “Lea?” Kairi asked, a hint of warning in her voice.

            “Wasn’t me.” Lea said. Under less stressful circumstances he would have been offended.

            “Ol’ bushel-britches was waving around a torch,” Little John said, with a note of worry. “Don’t tell me he got careless.”

            As they watched, the figure of Robin took as much of a running leap as he could, and dived into the castle’s moat. The archers followed him down, raining arrows on the spot where he hit the water, until he bubbles stopped.

            “Come on, Rob, come on…” John muttered.

            “He’s just got to make it!” the kit said, confident in his hero.

            Robin’s hat surfaced. An arrow was stuck through it.

            “No… Oh no, no…” John whispered. From the other side of the moat, they could hear the Prince cheering.

            “He’s gonna make it. Isn’t he, Little John?” the kit asked, fearfully. John’s eyes filled with tears, and Lea put a hand on the kit’s shoulder.

            “Kid, I’m sorry,” he said, quietly, “but sometimes being a hero means…”

            “What’s that?” Kairi asked, pointing at a stick floating upright in the moat. It drifted towards the bank, and the four ran over to look at it.

            Robin Hood surfaced in front of them, spraying Little John in the face with a mouthful of water. He had been using a hollow reed to swim underwater, avoiding the archers.

            As the three natives to the world celebrated, Lea and Kairi sat back, exhausted, but triumphant.

 

 

            They stayed in the world long enough for Merlin to locate King Richard and bring him back home, at which point he pardoned Robin Hood and Little John for their crimes, and named them as heroes. Kairi and Lea turned down any offers of similar recognition, aware that they needed to make as little of an impact as possible.

            They did, however, stay for the wedding.

            “All’s well that ends well, eh, teach?” Lea said to Merlin as they watched Robin Hood and his now-wife, Marian, climb into a coach for their honeymoon.

            “Hm? What? Oh, yes, I suppose it does.” Merlin said. He had been staring at Richard for the entirety of the ceremony, and now seemed somewhat melancholy.

            “Is something wrong, sir?” Kairi asked.

            “Oh, no, no, nothing’s wrong,” Merlin said. He took another look at Richard, particularly at the crown, and sighed. “I just miss Arthur, is all.”

            “Arthur?” Kairi asked.

            “Arthur Pendragon. My last student. And the King of my world.” Merlin stared pensively at Richard’s crown. “I haven’t seen him since…” he trailed off, and Kairi decided not to press him further, instead surprising the old wizard by giving him a hug. Lea put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

            “You’ll see him again,” Kairi said.

            “That’s what we do, right? Protect the bonds between people?” Lea said, grinning.

            Merlin stifled a laugh. “My thanks, to both of you. Shall we be off?”

            The focus on the honeymoon coach enabled them to slip away, though Kairi could have sworn she saw Richard give them a slight wink and nod. They returned to the gummi ship and headed for the depths of gummi space, on to the next adventure.

 

 

**Obtained Keychain: Outlawed In-law**

**Obtained Keychain: Love Goes On**

**Obtained Keychain: Oo-De-Lally**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Robin Hood will always have a very special place in my heart. It's not just my favourite Disney movie, it was my first favourite movie period. It was a major part of my early childhood, to the point where my favourite colour was and still is green. Just because of this movie.  
> The Robin Hood stories remained something I was interested in, similar to how The Great Mouse Detective introduced me to Sherlock Holmes. The boss Kairi and Lea fight in this chapter is a reference to a character from the stories that didn't make it into the film, Guy of Gisborne. He was a mercenary dressed in horse leather (with the horse's head and tail still attached) hired by the Sheriff to hunt down Robin Hood. Naturally things don't go in his favour. And because I'm sure it came to mind to some of you, yes I did take some inspiration from Bloodborne, specifically Ludwig, the Accursed/the Holy Blade. It just wasn't the main reference. Robin being the disgraced Robert, Earl of Locksley is another mythos thing that wasn't included in the Disney movie.  
> For this chapter I did have to pretty much just adapt the last third of this movie, which I feel a little guilty about, but it is fanfiction. Seeing as I'm not trying to make any profit aside from personal enjoyment off of it, I think it can slide.  
> As for why Kairi and Lea remain human for this chapter, when they should have gone anthropomorphic?  
> Look.  
> I'm gonna level with you.  
> Despite my early taste in Disney movies, and against all odds, I'm not a furry.  
> And I didn't want to design fursonas for either of them.  
> That's it. There's no Watsonian explanation.  
> Regardless, we have one chapter left! One chapter and an epilogue, which will be posted on the same day, the same way I put up the prologue alongside chapter one. It has been a wild ride, and a huge thank you to everyone who's stuck with me thus far.


	10. Montressor Spaceport

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note: the following chapter essentially adapts almost the entirety of Disney's Treasure Planet. If spoilers for this decade and a half-old movie matter to you, please take this under advisement.

            The gummi ship rocked and shuddered as they approached the next world.

            “Everything all right?” Kairi asked, concerned.

            Merlin, at the controls, shook his head. “I’m afraid not. Something has happened to our guidance system. Until we get it fixed, we won’t be making any more long jaunts. Fortunately, I planned for this,” he added with a satisfied smile. “The world we’re approaching should have the facilities to fix a gummi ship.”

            Outside the viewport a planet with a large crescent moon was coming into view. To Kairi and Lea’s mild surprise, they bypassed the planet entirely, heading straight for the moon itself. There was something odd about it, and it took a couple seconds for Kairi to put her finger on it.

            She blinked. “Okay, why can I see stars _through_ the moon?”

            “That’s no moon,” Lea said, a grin slowly spreading over his face. “That’s a space station.”

 

 

**Montressor Spaceport**

 

 

            They had enough attitude control to avoid the massive letters that appeared in their path, and after some negotiation over the radio, Merlin put them down in one of the many berths dotting the outer edge of the space station.

            “Repairs may take a while, but fortunately the time axis of this world is much, much faster than most others,” Merlin said as the three disembarked. “I’m expecting it to take months of in-world time, but it should only be a couple days on our time-scale.”

            “Gives us more time to train, I guess,” Kairi said, eyes scanning the crowded port. There were a vast multitude of people, almost none of which were what she would have identified as ‘human’. It was a breathtaking sight, so many people of so many shapes all meshing and colliding as they went about their daily lives. She’d never seen anything like it, and the sheer scale of it all was wondrous to her.

            It was nothing Lea hadn’t seen before while worldhopping for the Organization. “If we have the room for it. It’s kinda crowded here.”

            “Oh, yes, this is a working port and not much else. I can get you passage to Montressor – that’s the planet – if you’d prefer somewhere with a bit more breathing room. I myself am going to have to stay here and…” Merlin breathed a preemptive sigh of exasperation “…deal with the mechanics and the paperwork.”

            “Ouch,” Lea said sympathetically. “Good luck. Let me know if you need help with …negotiations. I can be very persuasive if it need to be.” He flashed a cocky grin.

            “Negotiations?” Kairi asked, skeptically.

            “No, no, ‘…negotiations’. Gotta put in that ominous pause,” Lea said, still grinning.

            Merlin huffed. “Well, I don’t expect I’ll be needing help of that sort. Now go on, explore a little while I deal with the docking permits.” He made shooing motions with his hands, and the two Keybearers hopped off the ramp and onto the dock.

            They spent some time walking around, taking in the sights. The spaceport had a bazaar towards the centre, and despite himself Lea was vicariously enjoying the wonder in Kairi and Naminé’s eyes at the various items on display, and the people selling them.

            It was the smell that ruined it. A heightened sense of smell was one of the less unpleasant side effects of using the Darkness, and while Axel hadn’t dived in nearly as deep as Riku once had, the power to create Dark Corridors didn’t come naturally with being a Nobody. Lea still had a slightly better than average sense of smell, enough to pick up through the massed throng the acrid scent of Heartless.

            He grabbed Kairi’s shoulder, scanning the crowd for yellow eyes in the shadows. “I don’t want to alarm you, but I think I can smell Heartless.”

            “Here?” Kairi was instantly on alert. “Where?”

            “Not sure. Close by.” He took a deep breath in through his nose. “Maybe there?” He pointed at an alleyway on the other side of the street.

            Kairi took a close look, and spotted telltale antenna rising out of the shadows. “I see them. Let’s move.”

            They rushed over to the alley to find a gathering of Neoshadows attacking a catlike woman. The woman, bedecked in a blue uniform jacket, was putting up a valiant fight, but the Neoshadows were relentless. Without a second thought, Kairi and Lea sprang into action, tearing the Neoshadows to shreds.

            “Well,” said the woman, straightening up and dusting herself off, “that was a refreshing bit of action. My thanks to you both. Amelia Smollet, at your service.”

            “I’m Kairi, and this is Lea,” Kairi said, Lea waving. “Why were the Heartless attacking you?”

            “You know, I have no idea. These… Heartless, you called them? These Heartless started chasing me on my way to my newest command. I couldn’t seem to put a dent in them. What exactly are those weapons you were using?” Amelia asked.

            Lea and Kairi shared a glance. “Uh… they’re called Keyblades. They’re for killing Heartless, among other things,” Lea said. Amelia’s eyes widened in surprise and she shot forwards to place a hand over Lea’s mouth.

            “Keyblades, you said? No, no, don’t say it again, it’s not safe here and that’s highly classified information.” She looked around, but there didn’t seem to be anyone else in the area. “Come with me to my ship, we can discuss this in my stateroom away from prying ears, as it were.”

            “Your ship?” Kairi asked.

            Amelia gave her a wide grin. “I didn’t fully introduce myself, did I? _Captain_ Amelia Smollet, of the RLS _Legacy_ , at your service.”

 

 

            After a short trip back to the Space Bus’s berth to inform Merlin of where they were going (he was still waiting on the finalization of the landing permits, whereupon he would then begin the process of getting the ship repaired), Kairi and Lea followed Captain Amelia to the _Legacy_.

            The ship was what Amelia called a solar galleon. Unlike a self-contained gummi ship, the solar-powered vessels in this world resembled ancient sailing ships in form and function. She was a beautiful ship, Kairi had to admit. The crew of the _Legacy,_ however, rubbed her the wrong way. There was something subtly wrong about them, like they couldn’t be trusted. She wondered if she was just being paranoid.

            “They look like bad news to me, too,” Naminé confided when Kairi retreated into their shared mental space to ask. Kairi was pleased to see that Naminé’s side of the room, formerly the drab, sickening white of Castle Oblivion, was starting to show a bit more colour; a soft cream on the walls, with golden highlights on the pillars. It didn’t look _complete_ yet, but it looked much healthier.

            “Glad it’s not just me,” Kairi said. “Let’s both keep a lookout, okay?”

            Naminé nodded, and Kairi refocused on what was going on outside her mind.

            After introducing them to her second-in-command, a rocky humanoid named Samuel Arrow, Amelia escorted them to a spacious cabin in the stern of the _Legacy_. She locked the door tightly behind them.

            “Keyblades. Keybearers, on my ship.” She chuckled. “Really, it is an honour, if something of a surprise.”

            “How do you know about Keyblades?” Kairi asked.

            “About a hundred years ago, there was a pirate by the name of Nathaniel Flint. He would appear out of nowhere, plunder anything he pleased, and vanish again. Along with his normal crew of cutthroats, it was rumored that he had dark monsters serving his whims. What descriptions we have make them seem similar to the Heartless we just encountered.”

            “What happened to him?” Lea asked.

            “We’re not sure. He was never found, but the legend says he left all his treasure-”

            “In one piece?” Lea interrupted.

            “In one _place._ A mythical location named Treasure Planet.” Amelia finished.

            “What about the Heartless?” Kairi asked. “Are they still around from when Flint was active?”

            “No, that’s the surprising thing. At the height of Flint’s reign of terror, a Keybearer visited the Royal Navy and offered their services to eliminate the Heartless. They stowed away on Flint’s ship and somehow managed to deprive him of their use. When the Navy asked how they accomplished it, the Keybearer simply said that they ‘closed the Keyhole’, whatever that means.” Amelia looked from Lea to Kairi. “Does that mean anything to either of you?”

            “Yeah, it does. We can’t really say what a Keyhole is, cause, yanno, classified,” Lea said. “But if it’s opened again, we should be able to close it.”

            “We’d need to find it first, though,” Kairi added. “It sounds like this Keybearer had to find their way to Treasure Planet to get to it. And if you don’t know where it is, there’s not much we can do.”

            Amelia sighed, and checked the door lock. “This is a secret you must keep. The people who chartered the voyage we’re about to undertake have a map, that they believe will lead to Treasure Planet. Aside from the both of them, myself, and Mr. Arrow, no one else knows our true destination. The crew are a… Oh, I forget what I called them. I must ask Mr. Arrow, he’ll remember. My point is, they don’t seem trustworthy. If you are able to join us on this expedition, you’ll have to keep both our destination, and your armament, a secret from everybody.”

            Lea pursed his lips and looked at Kairi. “Well, Merlin did say it would be ‘months’ before the gummi ship is repaired…”

            “And we do have a responsibility to fight Heartless and seal the Keyhole…” Kairi agreed.

            They both looked back at Amelia. “Captain, if you’re asking us to join your crew, we accept,” Lea said.

            “We’ll need to send a message to our friend that we’re going on the trip, though,” Kairi added.

            Amelia nodded. “It’ll be done before we push off. In the meantime, I must inspect the ship. We’ll deal with assigning you duties when our sponsors arrive.” She unlocked the door and left, before Lea could ask what she meant by that.

            “Well, looks like we’re going sailing,” he muttered.

 

 

            Amelia returned a short time later, with Mr. Arrow, a teenage boy, and a dog-like man in tow. She seemed much more frustrated than earlier, and barely acknowledged Lea and Kairi’s presence.

            “Doctor. To muse and blabber about a _treasure map_ , in front of this _particular_ crew, demonstrates a level of ineptitude that borders on the imbecilic. And I mean that in a very caring way,” she added, smirking.

            The dog-like man, apparently a doctor, sputtered in response, but Amelia cut him off, asking to see the map. The doctor huffed, then gestured to the teen, who tossed Amelia a metal sphere. “Here.”

            “Hmm. Fascinating.” She turned to a cabinet set in the wall, placed the sphere in a chest, and sealed both it and the cabinet itself. “Mr. Hawkins, in the future, you will address me as ‘Captain’ or ‘Ma’am’. Is that clear?”

            The teen sighed.

            “Mr. Hawkins?” There was now a slight edge of warning in Amelia’s voice.

            “Yes, ma’am,” the teen said.

            “That’ll do. Gentlemen – and lady,” she added, nodding at Kairi, “this must be kept under lock and key when not in use. And Doctor, again, with the greatest _possible_ respect, zip your howling screamer.”

            “Captain, I assure you, I–” the canid doctor started, but Amelia cut him off again, sitting down at her desk.

            “Let me make this as… _monosyllabic_ as possible. I don’t much care for this crew you hired. They’re… how did I describe them, Arrow? I said something rather good this morning before coffee.”

            Mr. Arrow had taken up station beside her desk. “‘A ludicrous parcel of driveling galoots’, ma’am.”

            Amelia flashed a grin at Kairi. “There you go, poetry.” Something about the look on her face caused an odd twinge in Kairi’s gut. She elected to ignore it; it was probably something she had eaten, and unrelated.

            “Now see here–” the doctor started before being cut off again.

            “Doctor, I’d love to chat, tea, cake, the whole shebang, but I have a ship to launch, and you’ve got your outfit to buff up.” The doctor was wearing a large spacesuit resembling a deep-sea diving rig. Everyone else in the room was wearing much less conspicuous clothing, even taking Amelia and Arrow’s uniforms into account. “Mr. Arrow, please escort these two neophytes and Mr. Lea down to the galley straightaway. He and young Hawkins will be working for our cook, Mr. Silver.

            The teen looked up from playing with a piece of decoration. “Uh, what?”

            “The cook?” Lea asked, confused. Amelia wouldn’t hear a word otherwise, and the three men were escorted by Mr. Arrow out of the stateroom, leaving Kairi and Amelia alone.

            “Why the galley?” Kairi asked.

            “Our Mr. Silver has something of a reputation, and I’m counting on the boy Hawkins to be too much of a distraction for him to try anything foolish. Your companion is simply extra security. It also puts them out of the way so that we can get on with the business of sailing. I take it solar ships aren’t common where you’re from?”

            “No, the ships we use are entirely different. The _Legacy_ does remind me of the boats I grew up around, but on a much larger scale. They were entirely ocean-going, though,” Kairi said.

            Amelia smiled at that. “I thought you adapted quickly to being on the ship. Which is why I’m assigning you as my assistant. You won’t be giving orders to the crew, but I want you to be my eyes and ears. Both in terms of managing these louts and in keeping everything shipshape. Do you think you can do that?”

            “Of course!” Kairi said with a confident smile.

            “Then come and join me on the quarterdeck. We’re about ready to cast off.”

 

 

            The process of putting the _Legacy_ underway was unlike anything Kairi had experienced before. The sails, rather than catching wind, caught and stored solar radiation that powered the ship’s engines. The most startling part of the process was the couple seconds between the ship launching from the spaceport and the artificial gravity being engaged; a couple seconds of freefloating in the air. With the exception of the doctor, one Delbert Doppler, everyone else was able to keep their feet through the transition.

            There was also the fact that space seemed entirely breathable, which Amelia, when asked, put down to something she called “Etherium”. Kairi resolved to ask about it later.

            Being at “sea”, if only metaphorically speaking, was very calming and familiar to her. If not for the general sense of unease she got from the crew, she would actually be having fun.

            Lea had never been sailing before, but after getting his ‘space legs’, was starting to understand the appeal, in the short moments he had between chores. Arrow had introduced him and the teen, Jim Hawkins, to the ship’s cook, John Silver. Hawkins had tensed for some reason Lea didn’t understand upon seeing that the humanoid man was a cyborg. Silver wasn’t any more pleased about having Hawkins and Lea assigned to him than they were to receive the assignment, and this seemed to manifest itself in an endless list of minor chores and duties as the voyage wore on.

            He had tried to befriend Hawkins, but the teen was surly and closed off, until a certain incident. Hawkins had been assigned to swab the deck, and had backed into one of the crewmen, who had taken exception to that. Lea could see what was happening from where he was, and, though he figured Hawkins wouldn’t want him to interfere, moved to defend him anyway.

            There was something about the kid that reminded him of Roxas.

            “Everything going all right here, gentle… beings?” he asked, striding between Hawkins and the crew.

            A spiderlike being crawled face-first down the rigging, raising itself up to its full height once it stood on the deck. Lea was actually impressed; it had been a long time since he’d met anyone taller than him. “Trying to teach the cabin boy to mind his own business,” it hissed.

            “Why, you got something to hide, brighteyes?” Hawkins snarked from behind Lea. Lea resisted rolling his eyes. Learn to read the room, kid.

            The spider-creature – Scroop, Lea was pretty sure his name was – snarled at him. “Maybe your ears don’t work so well.” He lunged for Hawkins’ coat, but Lea grabbed his claw by the wrist.

            “Hey now. No need for horseplay, Mr. Hands,” he taunted. However, he wasn’t sure what he could do without drawing one or another of his weapons. And that was just begging for trouble.

            Scroop’s golden eyes narrowed even further than they already were, and he seized Lea’s shirt instead. “Hey now, this shirt is new. Whoa.” Scroop lifted him off his feet and pinned him to the mast.

            “You’re next, cabin boy,” he hissed, until a mechanical clamp seized him around the offending wrist.

            “Mr. Scroop?” asked Silver. “Have you ever seen what happens to a fresh purp when you _squeeze real hard_?”

            Scroop dropped Lea to the deck as Silver twisted his arm. Any further conflict was shut down upon the arrival of Mr. Arrow, who pointedly reminded them that fighting amongst themselves was strictly prohibited.

            Silver was understandably pissed about the incident, handing Lea and Hawkins a mop each and setting his pet amorphous blob, Morph, to keep an eye on the both of them. The rest of the crew retreated below decks for the night, leaving the two of them alone.

            “So no thank you?” Lea asked, with a sarcastic grin. Somehow, he thought that a friendly approach would make Hawkins close off even more.

            “Excuse me?” Hawkins asked.

            “For saving your ass. Could’ve been you Mr. Hands held up there.”

            “I didn’t ask you to do that for me.”

            Lea let out a bark of laughter. “I didn’t do it for you, kid. I did it because I like poking at people who’re full of themselves.” This was a lie. Hawkins didn’t need to know that.

            “Seems like an easy way to get people hurt.”

            “Oh, it is, if you can’t back it up. But I’ve survived this long.”

            Hawkins turned to look at him. “…You’re full of crap.”

            The grin slid off Lea’s face. “…Yeah, in a lot of ways, I am. You want to know the truth, kid?”

            “What ‘truth’?”

            “The truth that it’s a big world out there, and sometimes, you’ll get the random people who help you out just for the hell of it. ‘Cause that’s just how they are. I have a couple of friends like that, and you remind me of one of them. That’s it. That’s my reason.”

            Hawkins turned back away. “It’s a stupid reason.”

            Lea’s grin came back. “Sure. But it’s mine.”

            They continued swabbing the deck in silence for a while until Hawkins turned towards Lea again. “…It’s Jim, by the way.”

            “Getting tired of being called ‘kid’?”

            “Very.”

            Lea smirked. “All right, Jim. And I’m Lea. Got it memorized?”

            Jim gave him a confused look, but nodded anyway. “Yeah, sure. Not like it’s hard to remember.”

            Their conversation was interrupted by Silver coming up from the galley. “Well, thank heavens for little miracles. Up here for an hour and the deck’s still in one piece.”

            Jim looked around, uncomfortable. “Look, I, uh… what both of you did… thanks.”

            Lea smiled to himself, but Silver turned to regard Jim. “Didn’t your pap ever teach you to pick your fights a bit more carefully?”

            Jim turned away and went back to mopping.

            “Your father’s not the teaching sort?”

            “No. He was more the taking off and never coming back sort.”

            “Oh.”

            Lea caught Silver’s eye and jerked his head towards the hatch. Silver nodded, and Lea slipped away to let the two of them talk in private.

            Jim really did remind him of Roxas, but a best friend wasn’t what the kid needed right now.

 

 

            As the voyage continued on Lea and Kairi both got settled into a routine. Lea’s was mostly chores, but he did make time to just enjoy the sights around him. Kairi spent her days both literally and figuratively learning the ropes of space travel from Captain Amelia herself. There was just something incredibly pleasing to her about earning the felid woman’s praise.

            Naminé was forming her own theory about why this was, though she was pretty sure Kairi was going to dismiss it offhand.

            “So, when we talk to Captain Amelia, I’ve noticed that our heart – the organ – beats a little bit faster.”

            “She’s an intimidating woman, it’s not surprising,” Kairi said.

            Naminé decided not to mention the many, many people and Heartless that were much more intimidating than Amelia that Kairi had stared down without as much as a tremor. “You also seem to hang on her every word.”

            “She’s the captain. I have to listen to what she says.”

            “And you seem to have a fascination with her boots.”

            “They’re thigh-high boots! On a military uniform, no less! That’s weird! Cool, but weird!”

            Naminé sighed, and stared Kairi right in the eye across the table that divided their mental rooms. “Maybe I should just be blunt. Kairi, I think you might have a crush on the Captain.”

            Kairi burst out laughing. “Naminé, I have a boyfriend. I have _two_ boyfriends. I don’t have a crush on Captain Amelia.”

            “It’s not like I’m judging you or anything! I just figured maybe you’d want to reconsider some notions that you seem to be holding about yourself and your capacity for attraction given this new information…” Naminé trailed off as Kairi shook her head.

            “Nam, I’ve only ever been interested in Sora and Riku. I know you’re just trying to be helpful, but I don’t think this is what you think it is. Okay?”

            Naminé sighed. “Alright, fine. But if you ever have reason to question that…”

            “I’ll come to you first,” Kairi promised with a chuckle.

            About the outcome Naminé had been expecting, really.

 

 

            Lea was covering for Silver and Jim, who had gone out on a joyride in one of the _Legacy_ ’s longboats, when the storm hit. “I feel like if we’re this close to a supernova we should have been incinerated the second it blew,” he muttered to himself as the crew jumped into action, folding the sails to keep them safe.

            Then unfolding them when the captain and Doppler realized they needed to ride one of the aftershocks of the nova in order to escape the black hole it had collapsed into.

            “Back and forth, back and forth,” Lea grumbled. At least the Organization never had him immediately undo things he had just accomplished.

            Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Mr. Arrow fly off the mast. He was caught by his lifeline, but before Lea could move to pull him in, he saw a look of horror cross the rock-man’s face.

            There was a sudden jerk, and Arrow was sucked away from the _Legacy_.

            “Shit,” Lea muttered to himself. He traced the rope Arrow had been tied to with his eyes, all the way back down to the mast, where it was securely tied.

            As the _Legacy_ cleared the storm, Lea raced down to where the lines had been tied. Luckily, Arrow’s line hadn’t been touched yet. He got a firm grip on it, and started walking towards where the rest of the crew was celebrating.

            Amelia was in the middle of congratulating Silver for Jim’s successful securing of the lifelines when Scroop walked up, holding Arrow’s hat.

            “I’m afraid, Mr. Arrow has been lost,” he said, handing the hat to the captain. “His lifeline… was not secured.”

            “Oh, it was secured,” Lea said, stepping into view with his hand held upright, the rope in question sliding through his fingers. “The problem is, it seems to have been… cut.” He stopped walking just as the end of the rope reached his fingers, pinching it to demonstrate the sheared end. Scroop gave him a look that Lea recognized full well as murderous, but he just smiled lazily in return. “I’m afraid I have no idea who might have done it, or even if it was an act of malice. Perhaps it wasn’t a person at all, but a bit of debris from the nova.”

            “Perhaps.” Scroop echoed, still glaring daggers.

            The news was clearly hitting Amelia hard. “Regardless, Mr. Arrow was a fine spacer, finer than most of us could ever hope to be. But, he knew the risks, as do we all. Resume your posts. We carry on.” She retreated back to the quarterdeck, and subdued, the crew returned to their duties. Lea and Scroop continued to side-eye each other, but neither said a word.

 

 

            Tensions were running high by the time a planet with two sets of rings came into view. Lea had related his suspicions regarding Scroop to Amelia, Kairi and Doppler, but they all agreed there was no point throwing accusations around without any evidence.

            And all of a sudden, it didn’t matter.

            A shrill whistle cut through the air as Jim burst into Amelia’s stateroom. “They’re pirates!” he gasped, out of breath.

            “They’re what?” Doppler asked, incredulous.

            “The crew, the whole crew, they’re pirates, Silver’s leading a mutiny!” Jim panted.

            After a couple of seconds of stunned silence Amelia crossed over to the cabinet where the map was secured. “Pirates on my ship? I’ll see they all _hang_!” She pulled out a pistol, loaded it, and tossed it to Doppler. “Doctor, are you familiar with these?”

            After a second or two of stammering and the accidental discharge of the weapon into a globe near Amelia’s head, he admitted he was not. Neither was there time for any instruction, as the crew had begun to cut through the stateroom door. Lea and Kairi looked at each other, nodded, and both summoned their Keyblades to seal the door shut. Doppler gave them a confused look.

            “I’ll explain later, Doctor,” Amelia said. “Mr. Hawkins, defend this with your life.” She tossed the map sphere back to Jim, who had to pry it out of Morph’s grip when the blob intercepted the throw. Morph had taken a liking to Jim and seemed content to follow him around.

            “One small problem, Captain,” Doppler said. “That’s the only entrance.”

            Amelia flashed a sinister grin. “True, Doctor, but it is not the only _exit_.” And with that, she blasted a hole in the stateroom floor large enough for them all to slip through. They made their escape just as the pirates brought out the big guns, blasting the door off the frame.

            They tore through the lower decks of the ship, pursued by Silver’s pirates. Lea had spent enough time on the ship to know they were heading for the docking bay. If they could launch one of the longboats, they could make their way down to the planet. It wasn’t much of an option, but it was better than staying where they were.

            It was also an obvious destination, as they ran almost right into Scroop.

            “Keep going, I’ll deal with Mr. Hands here,” Lea said, motioning for the party to continue.

            “You have one minute,” Kairi said. “We’re not leaving you behind.”

            “Plenty,” Lea said, giving Scroop a taunting grin. The arachnoid pirate snarled back at him.

            “And what can you possibly do to me?” Scroop replied, tensing himself up to strike at Lea as the others headed on to the bay.

            “Well, you see, I’m not like Jim. I only pick fights I know I can win,” Lea said, and the two moved as one.

            Unfortunately, Lea hadn’t taken into account the cramped quarters of the _Legacy_ ’s lower decks. He was unable to make a full swing with his Keyblade, and wound up on the defensive.

            Scroop slowly pushed him back, both claws on the blade of his Keyblade. “One minute is plenty, you said? Perhaps you were right.”

            “Hey, I’m not out of tricks yet,” Lea said, and took his left hand off the hilt to summon one of his chakrams, which he thrusted towards Scroop’s face. The pirate jerked backwards, taking a claw off of Lea’s Keyblade to block the chakram. They had returned to the impasse.

            Lea was considering seeing if he could cast magic with his tongue when a laser blast hit him in the side.

            He crumpled, turning to see the group that had been pursuing them had finally caught up. “Bloody… pirates…” he swore, casting a quick Cura over himself.

            It didn’t seal the wound.

            “What the hell? Cure!”

            Nothing.

            “Well shit.”

            Scroop grabbed him by the collar of his jacket and threw him down the hall. “What’s that about knowing you can win, brat?”

            “I’m a grown-ass adult, thank you,” Lea said, quietly panicking. Fortunately for him, a wall of ice rose up to block the corridor. He looked further down the hallway to see Kairi standing at the end.

            “Jeez, Lea, I said one minute,” she said, smiling but clearly worried.

            “Kairi… They shot me, and Cure isn’t working,” he said, trying to pull himself to his feet.

            “What? Magic _always_ works,” she said, rushing over to support him.

            “Questions for later. Do we have a boat?”

            “The Captain and Doppler are unmooring it now,” she assured him. They limped their way into the hangar, and Kairi sealed the door shut behind them with her Keyblade, then set Lea down in the same boat Doppler and Jim had climbed aboard.

            “I set up a roadblock but it won’t hold them for long. We need to move,” she said.

            As if on cue, the pirates started to cut through the door frame.

            Amelia pulled the lever to open the bay door and hopped aboard the boat just as the door fell forwards, cut out of the frame, and Morph snatched the map out of Jim’s pocket. The teen jumped off the boat to follow him as Amelia, Doppler, and Kairi began trading laser fire and shots of Fire with the pirates.

            Doppler took careful aim at a piece of machinery on the ceiling, and knocked it down with a single shot. It landed smack dab in the middle of the pirates, knocking all of them out of the opening hatch to plummet screaming to the planet below.

            “Did you actually aim for that?” Amelia asked, impressed despite herself.

            “You know, actually, I _did_?” Doppler answered, equally impressed.

            Silver, meanwhile, had started closing the bay door.

            “Blast it,” Amelia said, eyeing the closing door. “Doctor, when I say now, shoot out the forward cable, I’ll take this one.”

            Through the pain of his wound, Lea was just able to make out the confrontation between Jim and Silver, both trying to get Morph to give them the map. Jim managed to snatch it out from under Silver’s fingertips, and took off for the longboat.

            Lea saw Silver’s cyborg arm transform itself into a gun. He took aim at Jim… and stopped, lowered the weapon, and sighed. Lea allowed himself a private grin. Perhaps the old pirate’s heart wasn’t completely shrouded in darkness after all.

            Jim leapt aboard the boat and Amelia and Doppler took their shots. The boat slipped out of the hangar and Amelia scrambled to open the sail and turn on the engine. They were away.

            But not completely in the clear, as shots from the _Legacy_ ’s guns impacted around them. One lucky shot tore through the mast, destroying the engine with a feedback loop. Amelia, sitting right next to the engine, grunted in pain, but was still able to guide what was left of the boat to a shaky landing.

            Jim, Doppler, and Kairi pulled themselves to their feet. Lea managed to get into a sitting position, hissing at the pain. Amelia gingerly stood up, and immediately collapsed again.

            “Oh, don’t fuss,” she admonished as Doppler and Kairi rushed to her side. “Slight bruising, that’s all. Cup of tea, and I’ll be right as rain. Mr. Hawkins, the map, if you please?”

            Jim pulled the sphere out of his pocket, only for it to rise up, shake, and turn back into Morph.

            “Morph! Where’s the map?!” Jim demanded. In response, Morph turned into a coil of rope, where he had stashed the map. “Are you serious?! It’s back on the _ship?!_ ”

            The droning sound of the other longboat’s engine cut off any more discussion. “Stifle that blob, and get low,” Amelia said. “We’ve got company.”

            They hid under the wreck of their longboat until the pirates had passed, whereupon Amelia handed Jim a pistol and asked him to scout ahead. This was about all she was able to do before collapsing again. Jim headed off, and Doppler and Kairi set to addressing Lea and Amelia’s wounds.

            “That is not ‘slight bruising’,” Doppler said firmly when the gash in Amelia’s side was exposed. “I’m afraid I don’t have any medical training, so aside from bandaging the wound I’m not sure what I can do for you.”

            “I have something I can try,” Kairi said from where she was examining Lea’s side. The shot had taken a gash out of him, but wasn’t deep enough to risk damaging any internal organs. It was the inability to use Cure on it that was frustrating the both of them. Perhaps Amelia’s wound would prove more pliant to Kairi’s magic.

            It was, and it wasn’t. While she could actively cast Cure spells on the wound, it didn’t knit the flesh back together the way it was supposed to. Amelia did seem to be in less pain, but better healing would require time. There was a different technique that Aerith had taught her, long ago in Traverse Town, but it wasn’t quick, and would drain Kairi’s magic.

            “Heal Lea first,” Amelia ordered when Kairi explained the situation. “If Heartless are coming from this planet, I need you both as close to 100% as we can get you. I’ll be fine.”

            “Heartless?” Doppler asked, confused.

            With Amelia’s permission, Kairi explained the concepts in broad strokes.

            “So that’s why you were on the ship,” Doppler mused. “Glad to have you with us. I don’t know what I’d have done about this on my own. I’m an astrologer, not a doctor. Well, I have a doctorate, but…”

            Kairi let him ramble while she poured her magic into Lea’s wound. Lea helped as best he could, feeding his own magic into her. It was an exhausting process, and it left them both drained by the time Jim returned, a robot in tow.

            The robot introduced itself as a Bio Electronic Navigator, or B.E.N. It then introduced itself again. Jim explained that B.E.N. had a literal hole in his memory; there was a circuit-containing plate missing from the back of his head.

            “The important thing is, he has a place we can stay,” Jim said as the robot’s antics wore on.

            They carried their injured party members into B.E.N.’s house, a hollowed-out, one-room structure on a rise in the middle of a field. Doppler marveled at the markings on the walls, theorizing that the planet once hosted a powerful civilization. However, all theorizing was cut short when B.E.N. spotted the pirates on approach to the house.

            After exchanging a couple rounds of laserfire, Silver called for a ceasefire and asked to speak with Jim. Jim realized that this meant the pirates still thought their group had the map, and went out to speak with Silver.

            The negotiations didn’t go well. Jim returned to the house in a foul mood, relaying that Silver intended to raze the house with the ship’s cannons if they didn’t give him the map. He went over to the wall and slumped against it, obviously upset.

            Lea still wasn’t quite healed fully, but while Kairi was taking a break and a much-needed nap, he hobbled over to sit beside him.

            “Go away,” Jim muttered.

            Lea sighed. “It’s not you.”

            “What?”

            “Your father. And now Silver. It’s not because of you.”

            “What are you talking about?” Jim demanded.

            Lea turned to look him in the eye. “The other truth about the world is sometimes, there are people who are going to be bad to you. Not because you deserve it, not because they want to hurt you, but because what they want is something incompatible with what you want, or who you are. I need you to understand, Jim, that that’s their fault. Not yours. You’ve had shit luck with father figures. It’s not because there’s something wrong with _you_. Okay?”

            Jim didn’t respond, so Lea got up to give him some space. Before he could walk away, Jim grabbed the hem of his pants.

            “…thanks,” he muttered, then let Lea go.

            A couple minutes later, B.E.N. remembered that there was a hatch in the back of his house leading to a vast network of machinery going all the way down to the planet’s core, giving them an escape route. Jim was immediately reenergized, realizing they could use this to sneak out of the house and steal Silver’s longboat, return to the ship, disable the cannons, and recover the map. Amelia tried to order them to stay together, but was having trouble staying focused, commenting on how wonderful Doppler’s eyes were. Lea shook Kairi awake.

            “Huh? Whuzz..? Pirates?” Kairi said, mentally shaking herself.

            “You’ve done enough for me. The Captain’s starting to hallucinate, we need to get to work on her,” Lea said.

            “Where’s Jim going?” Kairi asked, now alert.

            “A rollicking adventure, doubtless,” Amelia murmured. Kairi and Lea both bent over her, pushing their raw healing magic into and over her wound. Slowly, but surely, it started to close, and colour returned to her cheeks.

            Unfortunately, it took so much of their concentration that they didn’t notice Silver and his band of pirates sneaking in through the hatch. Weakened as they all were, they could barely put up a fight, and when Jim and B.E.N. returned with the map an hour later, ship’s cannons disabled and Scroop having floated out of the ship’s artificial gravity well to his death, it was to a pirate ambush.

           

 

            Despite the years he had spent searching for the location of Treasure Planet, Silver couldn’t for the life of him get the map to work. Jim alone seemed to be able to operate its mechanism, almost effortlessly. Thus, Silver decided to bring his prisoners along with him to the treasure’s resting place. Over the course of the journey, Kairi continued to surreptitiously heal Lea and Amelia. They wouldn’t be completely back on their feet, but Lea at least should be able to fight.

            The map projected a holographic trail that terminated at the edge of a cliff. While the pirates almost tore Jim and Silver both to pieces out of sheer frustration, Jim realized the map would fit perfectly in a small indentation in the ground. When he had done so, the map rose up and projected a holographic sphere that Doppler identified to Lea and Kairi as being a map of the known galaxy. When a planet on the map was touched, a colossal gateway opened up before the cliff leading to the selected location.

            Based on cryptic hints that B.E.N. had rambled, and his experience in the planet mechanism, Jim realized that they needed to select Treasure Planet itself. The door opened to the planet’s core, revealing a vast horde of gold and jewels that would be the envy of any king, lord, or entrepreneurial duck covering the spherical centre of the planet. Large pylons dotted the outer wall of the massive chamber, sending electrical pulses through the core, presumably part of the mechanism. Jim, Silver, B.E.N., and the pirates all stepped through the gateway, leaving one man to guard Amelia and Doppler in the boat. Lea and Kairi also entered the core, figuring if the Keyhole was anywhere, it must be here.

            No one noticed the little red laser that was broken the second they stepped inside.

            The sheer scale of Flint’s ill-gotten riches was astounding, and the pirates quickly forgot about minding Jim and the other three in favour of diving into the treasure horde and stuffing their pockets as full as possible. Jim spotted the wreck of a ship on a mountain of coins, and clambered up to it, thinking they could use it to escape. Instead, he came face to face with a skeleton that must have been Nathaniel Flint himself.

            The skeleton was clutching a plate in its hand that looked oddly familiar. Behind Jim, B.E.N. was rambling about how familiar this place seemed, how there was something about it that he couldn’t recall, but that Flint hadn’t wanted anyone to know about.

            “B.E.N.,” Jim said, “I think I just found your mind. Hold still!” With that, he grabbed the plate out of the dead pirate’s hand and slapped it into place in the missing section of B.E.N.’s head. It fit perfectly.

            “Whoa! Hello.” B.E.N. said. “You know, uh, Jimmy, I was just thinking...” he trailed off, evidently still thinking. “I was just think–” he broke off again, realizing what he had just said. “It's all flooding back! All my memories! Right up until Flint pulled my memory circuits... so l could never tell anybody about his _booby trap_!”

            A massive rumbling shook the core. “…Speaking of which…” B.E.N. added, terrified.

            Another boat rose from the other side of the core. Unlike the one Flint rested on, this one was manned. As it drifted closer, shapes leapt off the sides of it, moving to attack Silver’s pirates. Lea and Kairi recognized them immediately.

            “Pirates, Air Pirates, and Aerial Vikings,” Lea identified them. “Jim, B.E.N., stay behind us!”

            The pair summoned their Keyblades, and although both were still tired from the healing marathons, they managed to clear a swath in the rising tide that allowed Silver’s pirates to regroup and start to fight back.

            Everything was going well until two of the Air Pirates swooped down and grabbed Kairi, carrying her halfway around the core before dropping her near the ship. She could still see Lea’s distinctive hair through the tumult, but working a path back would be nearly impossible alone, with the tides of Heartless still pouring out of the ship.

            The ship… on closer inspection, the ship itself looked strange. A magenta hull was topped by three large black sails, each of which bore the red Heartless emblem. As Kairi watched, one of the yellow lights on the front that she had assumed were lanterns swung to face her, like an eyeball.

            Exactly like an eyeball.

            “You’re kidding me,” Kairi gasped. “The whole ship is one big Heartless?”

            The Heartless ship turned its attention towards her, and began to charge.

**Defeat Pirate Galleon!**

            Kairi danced out of the way, quickly forming a plan of attack. The eye-lanterns had to be weak spots. She pooled what she had learned from Amelia over the past months, trying to think of anything else she could use.

            The sails needed to remain intact, lest the ship be unable to move.

            The rudder was essential; no point in having motion if you can’t steer.

            Cutting the lines holding the sails up might work, though she wasn’t sure if there were any.

            Taking down the mast would do damage to a ship that couldn’t be repaired in the heat of combat.

            There were ways to win this. It wasn’t hopeless.

            She cast another glance at Lea’s red hair in the distance, and abruptly realized that this would be the first time since she had gotten her Keyblade that she’d be fighting alone. She swallowed, trying not to let the thought get to her.

            With a shout, she lunged towards the giant Heartless, swinging Destiny’s Embrace with all her might.

 

 

            Kairi slammed into a pile of gold coins, having been tossed aside once again by the Pirate Galleon’s charge. It wasn’t working. The Heartless kept tossing her aside faster than she could do damage to it alone. She was starting to run out of Hi-Potions and her magic still wasn’t fully recharged.

            “I can’t do this,” she whispered. “Not alone.”

            “Kairi!” her own voice called. She looked towards the nearest reflective object, a large gemstone, and could see Naminé’s face reflected in the facets.

            “Naminé?” she asked.

            “ _We_ can do this, Kairi,” the blonde girl said. “ _Together_.”

            “Are you sure?” Kairi asked. She felt her own head move as Naminé nodded.

            “…I’ve accepted it. I want to fight for my friends, too,” she said.

            “All right.” Kairi smiled, pulled herself to her feet, and ceded the left half of her upper body to Naminé.

            Memory’s Embrace flashed into her left hand, and the two girls in one body stood straight and tall together.

            It was a complicated dance they weaved around the Pirate Galleon, two Keyblades flashing as they carved through sails and ropes faster than Kairi could ever have hoped to accomplish on her own. A Blizzard from Naminé combined with a Fire from Kairi snapped the boat’s rudder in half, leaving the Heartless to drift aimlessly, still trying and failing to hit them with its cannons.

            With a final blast of power, Kairi and Naminé cleaved through the Pirate Galleon’s mainmast. Time seemed to slow as the Heartless-emblemed sail toppled and the ship itself dissolved into black smoke.

            Rather than the exhaustion one would expect, Kairi and Naminé both wound up laughing in joy. The feeling of both of them working together was exhilarating, the high of having a partner who knew your every move before you made it. “Is this what Drive forms felt like for Sora?” Kairi giggled. “That’s _fantastic_.”

            “No idea, but that was amazing,” Naminé said, feeling just as lightheaded.

            “Hey, if you’re done having fun,” Lea called from the other side of the core, “we could use some help.” Though the elimination of the Pirate Galleon had stopped the tide of Heartless, the ones that were left had managed to back Lea and everyone else into a small area around Flint’s ship.

            “On it!” Kairi and Naminé both called, and proceeded to wipe the floor with the remaining Pirate Heartless. As soon as they were gone, a floating symbol appeared in the air over Flint’s ship. With a triumphant smile, Kairi, Naminé, and Lea all pointed their Keyblades at the Keyhole, and locked it with a satisfying click.

            This left the matter of Silver and his pirates. “Though I do thank ye for the rescue,” Silver said, “I will remind you that this treasure is still mine. Ours,” he amended at the behest of his crew’s glares.

            “I think I just remembered something else!” B.E.N. called. “Or, I remember I just thought something else! I can do that now! Was that thing you just locked a Keyhole?”

            “Yes…?” Lea said, confused.

            “Oh, good. Or, no, bad. Because locking that triggers the _other_ booby trap. Flint wanted to make sure that nobody could ever steal his treasure. So, if his Heartless were to be stopped, he rigged the whole planet to blow higher than a Kalepsian kite!”

            As if waiting for the cue, another rumble rocked the planet. The massive pylons that passed energy through the core started to detach from the outer wall, falling to the core and cracking it in two.

            Amid the panic and confusion, Jim grabbed Lea, B.E.N., and Kairi. “You go back and help the Captain and Doc! If I’m not there in five minutes, leave without me!”

            “I am not leaving my buddy Jimmy!” B.E.N. declared, but Lea shook his head.

            “We’ll give you five minutes, then we’re coming back for you. It’s a promise,” he said.

            “Shouldn’t matter, if I can get this boat skyworthy,” Jim said, already turning to the console behind him. “Go!”

            The trio rushed out of the gateway to find that in their absence, Doppler had slipped free of his bonds and taken control of the longboat. Amelia wasn’t quite steady on her feet yet, but she was of sound mind and ordered them back to the _Legacy._

            They returned to find Jim and Silver both escaped from the core, Silver having apparently given up his riches to save Jim’s life. Lea was privately pleased with the old spacer. B.E.N. hurried them onto the ship, where the remains of Silver’s crew were imprisioned. Doppler was behind the wheel with Amelia’s guidance, and Kairi and Lea were sent down in the hull, to do their best to keep the engine running.

            Thanks to Jim’s quick thinking again, the gateway was set to Montressor, and the _Legacy_ soared through it to safety seconds before the planet exploded. Somehow, in the confusion, Silver managed to slip away. Jim didn’t seem too bothered by it, and from both that and the fact that Morph was hanging around him again, Lea figured the kid had let him go. He doubted Silver would be causing trouble again, after all that had gone on, if only so as to not disappoint Jim.

           

 

            Their return to Montressor several months ahead of schedule with a damaged ship, injured captain, most of the surviving crew in chains, and a small amount of treasure made for news the planet over, but Lea and Kairi were able to slip away in the confusion, Amelia promising to explain what had happened to her commanding officers and pass on the word that the Keyhole was once again closed. To Naminé’s quiet amusement, Kairi shyly asked if she could give the felid captain a hug before they left, which surprised Amelia; but she agreed anyway.

            “Not a word,” she muttered to her former Nobody, and Naminé used their left hand to mime zipping her lips.

            To their pleasant surprise, Merlin had actually managed to expedite the repairs to the Space Bus, and it was ready to go by the time they got back. He was astounded to hear of their adventures, or at least mimicked it convincingly, congratulating them both on finding the Keyhole and on defeating Flint’s Heartless horde.

            “I hope, Miss Naminé, you’ve had a chance to reconsider,” he said, with a twinkle in his eye.

            Naminé, not used to being addressed directly by people other than Kairi and Lea, flushed. “I’m… still considering,” she said.

            “That’s perfectly all right,” Merlin said. “And just so you know, I will also support you in whatever you decide. As long as I never hear anyone outside the Tri-State Area so much as breathe the name ‘Merle’,” he added with a mock-serious frown.

            Naminé turned an even brighter shade of red, and they all laughed. “That aside,” Merlin said, “I’ve received a communication from Master Yen Sid. Riku and Mickey have returned, and they brought someone with them that they’d like you all to meet.”

            Kairi gasped. “They found Master Aqua?”

            “It seems so,” Merlin smiled. “And, since I don’t believe I have anything left to teach you…” He paused, waiting for their reaction.

            It was swift in coming. “You _what_?” Lea asked, while Kairi gasped again.

            “Are you saying, our training is done?” she asked, hardly daring to believe it.

            “Yes and no. Even Masters will always have more to learn. But I believe you have learned all that you can from me,” Merlin said. “Anything else will have to come from another Keyblade Master, be it Riku, Mickey, Yen Sid, or Aqua. But for what it’s worth, I believe you both have become splendid Keybearers. Now, buckle up. We’re going home.”

 

 

**Obtained Keychain: Makings of Greatness**

**Obtained Keychain: Dreamchaser**

**Obtained Keychain: Professional Pirate**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the longest chapter I've ever written. Not the longest "thing", because I did go to college, but longest chapter. It had to be, since this is essentially "the plot of Treasure Planet but Kairi, Lea, and Naminé were also there".  
> This is the only movie I actually had to rewatch before writing the chapter. Not that I didn't try to do it for the whole fic, but I ran into problems finding legal copies for most of them. Fortunately I have a good memory. And Google. Anyway, that's why this chapter follows the movie's plot so closely, because I actually went through and made notes while watching the film, and cross-referenced the dialogue with the script.  
> The part with Naminé reminding Kairi that she's not truly alone is one of the first scenes knew I wanted to do for this fic. It's actually cribbed from, of all places, the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen movie. The original context is that Henry Jekyll, of Jekyll and Hyde fame, witnesses a catastrophe happening on board the submarine he's traveling in. And Hyde, speaking through Jekyll's reflection (sound familiar?), insists that the two of them can work together, instead of against each other like they usually do, to save lives. It marks a turning point for their relationship and is also MASSIVELY out of character for Hyde to suggest it, but it's a really cool moment all the same.  
> Some other aspects of this fic come from my own experiences. While watching Treasure Planet while planning this, I noted a slight similarity between Jim Hawkins and Roxas; the same similarity Lea notes. And when I first watched it as a young kid, I did find Amelia to be the best character, reflected in Kairi.  
> Other notes: why didn't Cure work? Etherium. Etherium is the handwave used by the creators of Treasure Planet to explain how space is breathable. So I'm borrowing it because Kairi and Lea would have broken the plot otherwise, since it depends on Amelia and Doppler getting captured by Silver, and I didn't want to send them with Jim. On the "Mr. Hands" thing: The character from Treasure Island that Scroop is adapted from is named Israel (or in some adaptations, Bartholomew) Hands. That's the joke.  
> Also, I noticed something while re-reading this chapter in advance of posting it. This is the first time I've actually definitively said that Lea is wearing a shirt under his jacket. I had an intense discussion with myself whether or not to remove the mention of it to preserve the quantum state of Lea's shirt (until it's directly mentioned, he is both shirted and shirtless. Schrödinger's Shirt.) but I figured it wasn't worth the effort since I hadn't intended to imply he was barechested in the first place. Sorry if anyone prefers Lea without a shirt. (I also noticed I did the same thing with his gloves in Chapter 6, but I mean. C'mon. It's Kingdom Hearts. They're all wearing gloves.)


	11. Epilogue

            Kairi could see a familiar face waiting for them as the Space Bus pulled to a stop in front of the Mysterious Tower. The second it touched down and she could safely get out, she took off running and launched herself into Sora’s arms. They spun around in a tight hug, both giggling.

            “We’ll be upstairs,” Goofy, who had also been standing there, said while pulling Donald towards the door. The duck grumbled, but the dog just smiled. Nothing he hadn’t seen before, raising Max.

            Riku had apparently seen the gummi ship approaching from the tower, because he was right on the other side of the door, waiting to hug them both.

            “Sooooo glad to be back,” Kairi said, squeezing the both of them.

            “Glad to have you back,” Riku said. “We’ve got someone we’d like you to meet.”

            “Oh. Before that, there’s something you guys have to know about,” Kairi said, tone coming down from the euphoria of seeing her boys again.

            “Is something wrong?” Sora asked, but Kairi shook her head.

            “No, no, it’s a good thing, it’s just going to be a bit awkward. Isn’t it, Naminé?”

            “It’s only awkward if we make it awkward,” the other girl said, using Kairi’s mouth. There was no glassy look in Kairi’s eyes. Sora leaned back in surprise, and Riku raised an eyebrow.

            “Whoa. Is she… are you awake at the same time?” Sora asked.

            Both girls laughed, sheepishly. “Yeah…” Naminé said. “We don’t have to be, so I’m not going to intrude on you guys’ private time together, but except for those times, I’d like to be awake.”

            Sora was smiling broadly. “Nice! Glad you’re feeling better!”

            Naminé blinked. “Feeling… Sora, did you… know?”

            “Know what?” Sora asked, genuinely confused. “You just seemed a bit sad the last time I talked to you. You sound much better now.”

            “Oh. Well, thanks,” Naminé said, blushing a bit.

            “That said, are you… okay?” Riku asked, carefully.

            Naminé gave him a wide, genuine grin. “Never better. Looking forwards to being me again.”

            A kind smile graced Riku’s lips. “I’m glad. Looking forwards to seeing you.”

            “All very well and good,” came Lea’s voice from behind them, “But I was under the impression we were here to meet a Keyblade Master. How was the trip?”

            The trio (quartet?) looked up to see Lea and Merlin disembarking from the ship.

            “Axel!” Sora said, and Roxas ran over to greet his friend.

            “Never gonna break you of that habit, am I?” Lea grinned.

            “Not on your life,” Roxas grinned back. “Did you know Naminé and Kairi are awake at the same time?”

            “Yep. It’s actually been almost a year for us. How long was it for you?”

            “Only a week. Sora’s been training at Olympus Coliseum. He didn’t know what Limit Breaks were,” Roxas confided.

            “Wow. Have you been giving him tips?”

            “As best I can. Xion’s a much better teacher than I am,” Roxas said. “I can’t imagine sharing the way Naminé and Kairi are. He doesn’t like sea-salt ice cream, Axel! Can you believe that?!” The blond boy sounded scandalized.

            Lea laughed. “Surprising. Have you met this Master Aqua yet?”

            Roxas shook his head. “No, she’s up in the tower. Sora hasn’t been in yet. He saw your gummi ship arrive as he was walking over, and decided to wait.”

            “Actually, we should be heading up,” Riku interrupted. “We don’t want to keep Master Yen Sid waiting.”

            “Gotcha,” Lea said, and the entire group made their way up the tower’s extensive internal staircase. Kairi threaded her fingers between Sora’s and Riku’s. Everything wasn’t right with the worlds, but it was a start.

 

 

            The door to Yen Sid’s office opened to reveal the old sorcerer deep in conversation with a blue-haired woman in her extremely late teens or very early twenties. She seemed cautious, as if she was afraid the world would shatter if she moved the wrong way. She looked up as the group entered the room, her gaze going right to Kairi’s.

            And all of a sudden the weird mental itching sensation Kairi would get whenever someone mentioned Aqua’s name resolved itself, as memories flooded back into her conscious recollection. Memories of being four years old, going to pick flowers for her grandmother, and being chased by blue-purple creatures of darkness, until they were defeated by a blue-haired woman and her magic key.

            “Master… Aqua…?” She asked, stepping forwards.

            Aqua’s eyes widened in shock. “…Kairi…?” she asked. “What are you doing here?”

            No one else in the room said anything. They could tell it was a moment between the two women alone. Kairi took a step forwards, reached out her hand, and summoned Destiny’s Embrace.

            Aqua stared at the Keyblade in her hand, dumbfounded, before rushing forwards to give the other girl a tight hug.

            “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to…”

            “It’s okay, it’s okay.” Kairi reassured her. “You saved my life. Your spell saved me. And it brought me to the best home I’ve ever had, to people who love and care for me. This,” she gestured with the Keyblade, “is a burden I’ll gladly bear to protect the people I love.”

            Despite herself, Aqua smiled. “Then you really are a true Keybearer. I wish I had passed you the power more formally, but…”

            “It came when I needed it most,” Kairi smiled back.

            They broke their hug, and proceeded with the rest of the introductions. Aqua was a bit taken aback to meet Roxas, Xion, and Naminé, but accepted them as different people from their hosts.

            “The time has come,” Yen Sid said, once the introductions were out of the way, “to retrieve the last of our Seven Guardians of Light.

            “Master Aqua, Sora, the time has come to retrieve and awaken Ventus.”

           

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like I said. I'll be disregarding Kingdom Hearts III from this point on.   
> I have two other fics written that I plan on releasing over the course of the next four weeks; one that shows what Riku and Mickey were doing for all this time, and one that shows what Sora, Donald, and Goofy (and Roxas and Xion) were doing for all this time. Then, we'll be moving on to an actual continuation of this... Is cliffhanger the right word? We'll move on to how the story continues.  
> And you know, right until typing this I didn't realize I've kind of done the Days/BBS thing of flashing back to see what other characters were doing rather than continuing the overarching story, but eh. It works.  
> After those four weeks are up, it might still be some time before I start putting up the next story, since I've only recently started working on the prologue. (This one is much, MUCH longer than KLEA's was. I think the actual chapters will on average be shorter, but there'll be more of them.)  
> Thank you to everyone who has read, left kudos, or commented, because you all are a major part of why I'm finally finding writing fun. And if there is some aspect of this or any other fic I've written that confused you, or you just want to call me out for making a stupid joke/reference, then by all means, leave a comment. I promise I don't bite.


End file.
